The banner of eugenics was taken up by a variety of groups in the United States and around the world, each of which believed that it would lead to the creation of healthier, more intelligent people, conserve society's limited resources, and reduce human suffering. Of course, one of the unspoken aspects of this "reduction" in suffering was that it worked, not by reducing suffering per se, but by reducing the number of people through forced sterilization -- fewer people, ergo, less suffering. Many women were sterilized involuntarily and without their knowledge under Eugenics laws which were passed in many states of the United States throughout the nineteen-teens and twenties.