in the public health department, responsible for studying the "physical diseases and defects of the human organism" that were naturally passed from parent to child. In addition, prostitutes, criminals, alcoholics, and other so-called degenerates were to be subject to statistical surveys and clinical examinations. Those who were deemed to be threatening to society were to be monitored. Six months after the passage of Law 121, an addendum was passed that legalized sterilization of "the insane, idiots, degenerates, or those demented to such a degree that their defect is considered incurable or hereditarily transmissible." With the help of medical professionals, the Section of Eugenics and Mental Health was in charge of identifying people who needed to be sterilized. While the law passed, it is not clear whether or not individuals were actually sterilized because of the lack of clarity in medical and historical records. Argument against Indigenismo State-directed policies to improve the situation of Mexico's indigenous peoples and the ideology of Indigenismo in Mexico were generally opposed by urban intellectuals. With the founding of the Mexican Eugenics Society for the Improvement of the Race in 1931, arguments against indigenismo employed arguments framed by eugenics. A 1936 editorial in the Mexico City newspaper, Excelsior told readers "The Indians, with rare exceptions, are proof that the theory of environment cannot be sustained by scientific criteria.... The Mendelian theory of inheritance serves as a basis for vigorously opposing the humanitarian work of the Government. The norms of the contemporary Indians have been passed from parents to their children as a sacred trust, and it is no simple task to remove these obstacles." Legacy Although the eugenics movement was at its most influential in the early twentieth century, some eugenic ideas continued to be present in Mexico throughout the 20 century. In the 1950s, the Public Health Department provided its employees with a genetic counseling service. Also, the acceptance of neo-Lamarckian genetics continued for Mexican eugenicists into the 1970s. The 21st century has also seen strains of the early eugenics movement. Fourteen indigenous women in Guerrero were forcibly sterilized in 2001, and there have been similar accusations of the state's sterilization abuses against indigenous women in Hidalgo. The United Nations has brought such abuses to the international stage and denounced Mexico's actions. In 2011, the Mexican government took steps to prevent sterilization abuse by introducing a legal measure to make the practice punishable with prison