Law Commons^™

Buying Fertility: The Constitutionality Of Welfare Bonuses For Welfare Mothers Who Submit To Norplant Insertion, John R. Hand

Vanderbilt Law Review

In 1990, Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories introduced Norplant, a five- year contraceptive consisting of six capsules that release contraceptive hormones when inserted in a woman's arm. Soon after the introduction of Norplant, a Philadelphia Inquirer editorial column stirred tremendous controversy when the author suggested that Norplant could solve the welfare problem if states would offer welfare mothers incentives to use the device.' Tremendous outrage and cries of racism, fascism and genocide prompted the Inquirer's Editor, Maxwell King, to apologize publicly and retract the editorial.'

Despite the fury, some states have introduced welfare reform bills that would do exactly what the Inquirer editorial …