The Black Stork, also known as Are You Fit To Marry?, is a 1917 American motion picture film both written by and starring Harry J. Haiselden, who was the chief surgeon at the German-American Hospital in Chicago. The Black Stork is Haiselden's fictionalized account of his eugenic infanticide of John Bollinger, who was born with severe disabilities. The film depicts Haiselden's fictionalized story of a woman who has a nightmare of a severely disabled child being a menace to society. Once awoken from the nightmare, she visits a doctor and realizes all was fine with her child. However, the purpose of the film was not to have a happy ending and move on. The purpose was to basically warn people, especially teenagers, of the dangers of sexual promiscuity and "race mixing", as these actions were believed to be the cause of disabilities in children.
Haiselden's film garnered many mixed reviews, and his actions were very controversial at the time. At this point in history, when the word "disability" was brought up, all anyone thought of was a "disease" that could be spread. Through this way of thinking, a majority of people agreed with Haiselden's actions and enforced the idea that doctors have the right to decide whether a disabled child should live. However, there was also a number of people who protested Dr. Heiselden's actions, including the Roman Catholic Church. Despite the public backlash, The Black Stork was still shown commercially in movie theaters for two years. After 1918, the movie was renamed Are You Fit To Marry? and remained in theaters and traveling road shows for many more years, as late as 1942.
Dr. Haiselden
Harry J. Haiselden was born on March 16, 1870, to George W. Haiselden and Elizabeth Dickey. Throughout his life, he expressed a passion for the medical field and ended up graduating from the University of Illinois medical school, and later accepted a job at the German-American Hospital in Chicago. During his time working at the hospital, he experienced many different instances of children growing up with disabilities, which led to his reasoning behind letting children with severe disabilities die. He experienced first hand the toll it took on both the child and family, and chose to promote infanticide rather than letting the disabled children live their lives with excessive treatments and painful procedures.
The Bollinger case
On November 17, 1915, John Bollinger was born to a woman named Anna Bollinger. He was born with no neck or right ear, as well as a severe skin ailment, all determined to be the cause of syphilis passed on from the father. After treating children with disabilities for many years at the American-German Hospital, he saw the severity of John Bollinger's condition and took it upon himself to advise Anna that the quality of life for her son will only get worse as he grows up. He confided in her that he has the skill set to surgically repair his defects and save the child's life, however he has experience with similar cases and convinced her that it was in the best interest for John to just let him die naturally. Out of fear for her son's future quality of life, the mother ultimately decided to follow Haiselden's advice and agreed that the best course of action is infanticide, instead of allowing him to grow up and deal with the disabilities in his adult years. As the child was dying though, an unknown person attempted to kidnap John Bollinger in an attempt to save his life and take him to another hospital for treatment, but her efforts were futile and ended unsuccessfully.
While the Catholic church was in full protest against Dr. Haiselden's actions, activists Helen Keller and Woodrow Wilson, as well as attorney Clarence Darrow and many others each wrote separate articles in support of Dr. Haiselden's choice. Dr. Haiselden was an outspoken supporter of the eugenics movement prior to the case and, after the publicity made him famous, he took eugenics onto the national stage. He was taken to court following a public release of information, and was ultimately acquitted by a jury for allowing John Bollinger to die. The Illinois Board of Health attempted to revoke Haiselden's medical license but that action was dropped. Even through these protests, he still managed to preserve his title and keep his medical license. During the trial, a coroner's jury determined that the child was not syphilitic, but in fact brain damaged and therefore defective. This brain damage gave Haiselden's actions even more validity and praise. Still, the Chicago Medical Society expelled Haiselden from their membership for The Black Stork film and the publicity that he sought out after the infanticide.