american association for the study and prevention of infant mortality american association for the study and prevention of infant mortality the american association for the study and prevention of infant mortality (aaspim) was one of the first organizations to begin investigating infant mortality rates in terms of eugenics. they promoted government intervention in attempts to promote the health of future citizens. part of a series oneugenics inthe united states states states california north carolina oregon race by race latinas native americans law court cases buck v. bell skinner v. oklahoma madrigal v. quilligan poe v. lynchburg training school & hospital stump v. sparkman doe ex. rel. tarlow v. district of columbia legislation virginia sterilization act of 1924 history institutions eugenics record office race betterment foundation human betterment foundation society for biodemography and social biology pioneer fund human betterment league heredity commission aaspim general jukes family average young american male (1921) the relf sisters oneida stirpiculture selective reproduction of slaves literature books the kallikak family eugenics manifesto the bell curve the passing of the great race the rising tide of color journals annals of eugenics proponents academics harry h. laughlin joseph dejarnette david starr jordan edwin katzen-ellenbogen charles goethe charles benedict davenport gertrude crotty davenport frederick osborn madison grant politicians guy w. bailey wallace h. kuralt. sr. theories scientific racism social purity movement feeble-minded racial nationalism united states portal category index the aaspim was founded at a november 1909 conference on the prevention of infant mortality, held in new haven, connecticut, by the american association of medicine (aam). its first annual meeting took place at johns hopkins university in november 1910. luther emmett holt, in his 1913 presidential address to the aaspim members, opposed the opinion that lowering infant mortality might help genetically unfit individuals to survive and thereby affect the nation's strength. in contrast, he held the position that we must eliminate the unfit by birth not by death. the race is to be most effectively improved by preventing marriage and reproduction by the unfit, among whom we would class the diseased, the degenerate, the defective, and the criminal.