1934: Sterilisation Ban

In searching for the best method of contraception, surgical male sterilisation initially received very little attention. Until the late 1920s, the operation for sterilisation played a role only for eugenic obsessions and “rejuvenation operations”. However, as a result of two major sterilisation scandals in 1929/30 and 1932/33, the situation in Austria ultimately changed. In the court trials of both cases that followed, no convictions could be attained – the conservative side considered this a scandal. However, a decision from the Supreme Court on May 8, 1934 closed the legal loopholes and (even voluntary) sterilisation operations became criminalised.

The Austrian regime thereby followed the model of the papal encyclical Casti Connubii of 1930, which clearly forbade interventions in reproductive processes. At the same time, however, this decision also conferred a clear rejection of all eugenic ambitions – a law such as the 1933 German Law for the Prevention of Genetically Diseased Offspring  was not passed.