Should Couple Have to Prove They Are Fit to Wed? Asks Rose Rothenberg, Aug. 18, 1921

Fitness for Marriage Test Law Should Include Women as Well As Men

By Rose Rothenberg, Assistant District Attorney

Coincidence with the action of the legislature of Wyoming passing a bill making it mandatory for every male resident of the state about to be married to obtain a certificate from a reputable physician certifying that he is physically fit and free from disease, plans are being made to present a similar bill to the next session of the legislature in New York state.

But the proposed laws will go further. Women as well as men will be required to undergo the eugenic examination and present certificates of physical fitness for marriage. There is just as much reason for requiring one of my own sex to submit to a fitness for marriage test as there is for the man. Men are not always the offenders, as my experience as an assistant district attorney in the Women’s Night court and the Domestic Relations court has proved.

Such a law, in my opinion and that of many other women to whom I have spoken, will prevent many unsuccessful marriages. Not alone will it do that, but it will guarantee to the coming generations the birthright which countless thousands of children have been deprived of under our present system.

From the front page of The Brevard News, Friday, August 19, 1921.