The story follows the 1927 U.S. Supreme Court case of Buck v. Bell, which permitted the compulsory sterilization of those deemed deficient due to their feeble-mindedness, “for the protection and health“ of society. This eugenics movement led to more than 60,000 people being institutionalized; deemed as criminals, sexual deviants, mentally deficient or mentally ill and forced to undergo sterilization operations from the early to mid- 20th century.