In Puerto Rico alone more than 10,000 were sterilized, and in Southern states, thousands of poor black women were sterilized without consent while in the "twilight sleep" of the heavy pain drugs used during delivery in the 1900-1950s. There were documented cases in Alabama and Puerto Rico into the 1970s. In Alabama, there is a lawsuit over it.

We stepped away not because of democracy, but because of the herioc work of Franz Boaz and other scientists who undermined the psuedo science of the time. The birth control advocates like Margaret Sanger, who embraced the rhetoric of eugenics in latter life, hurt the movement in certain quarters for ever after.

Manjoo is far too optimistic about American elites. His comment that "who hasn't thought America would be a better place if everyone was like me is quickly rejected as elitist" is not entirely true. The coerscive tactics used by extremists on the left and right to try to force people to act as they want are well documented. From speech codes to refusing to fill birth control prescriptions, from heckling people (Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh in recent events) to trying to interfere in marital decisions (Schiavo case), there are plenty of people who are elitist and believe their beliefs are more important than the COnstitution. We must be vigilant against these people. Often, they would be better served by minding their own business. Still, they try to mind ours in louder and more forceful ways.

They both had painful, degenerative back illnesses. I understand the pain. But the suicides left holes in my heart that have not even begun to heal, even though they were in 1996 and 2002. You go back, you wonder what you could have done to prevent it. You miss them. random pictures lead to tears.

Was it selfish to want a man with 4 kids to live for his children? A man with people who loved him so much his workplace broke down almost completely afte rhis death, and it took years for all of us to recover? Was it selfish of us to have wanted them to have lived for us? To have enjoyed our company enough to have lived?

Is it selfish to believe that depression causes such a chemical fog that the person did not know what they were doing? Is it selfish to think that this country (the US) worries to much about morphine addiction and too little about pain management?

Is it selfish to wish that no one would commit suicide?

I hope the LW gets help, and gets her meds adjusted. I know that it IS selfish to commit suicide and pass the pain onto others. She's in a chemical fog so deep she can't see any love around her. The difference between depressiona dn cancer is that, with proper meds, you can get better. You can't really "cure" cancer. So there is a part of me that does think that people with depression owe their loved ones the work of finding meds and trying to stay alive. I've lost loved ones to cancer and heart attack, too. They had no choice in the matter. Suicide is a choice ultimately. It is a choice that can be understandable, but is always devastating.

Now I need to wipe my eyes.