Forced Sterilization? Violation of Rights or Necessary Sometimes?
One grandmother in the United Kingdom has asked the courts to sterilize her daughter through a tubal ligation during her upcoming c-section. While it sounds heartless of her mother to ask, the situation certainly does sound heartbreaking so I can sympathize with both sides of the story.
Her daughter, a 21 year old mentally disabled mother of one child already, who is in the grandmothers care, and pregnant again for the second time with a child who may certainly end up under the care of Grandma… Mrs. P (Grandma) has asked for the courts to order her provider to perform a Tubal Ligation during her c-section scheduled for later on in the year.
It is a very sticky issue for everyone involved. The daughter of Mrs. P clearly has issues preventing pregnancy, as well as caring for her children, but should a court force her into a surgical procedure that would eliminate her ability to have children at all?
Jeanne Sager from The Stir summed it up exactly how I feel:
It’s a terrifying scenario that goes against everything I, as a feminist, have been taught about women and reproductive freedom. And yet, I can’t help understanding where Mrs. P. stands. Because one of the chief reasons I support reproductive freedom is that a mother should not bring a child into this world who she can’t support.
The situation as a whole is heartbreaking for everyone involved, especially the children, but should this be someplace for legal action, and courts to get involved in?
What do you think?
photo: flickr.com/mikeporcenaluk
The daughter has apparently outright refused contraception, according to the original article. There have evidently been attempts to get her contraceptive injections and “implant” (IUD?) which she refused to submit to. The second pregnancy came very soon after the delivery of her first child and the grandmother is looking at the potential for critical mass given that her daughter is only 21 with quite a few childbearing years ahead of her. It also doesn’t seem that the UK courts take the situation lightly as the last court mandated sterilization occured in 2003. Is this a terrible situation? Yes. Should court mandated sterlization be an option of last resort for the health and wellbeing of a person who for whatever reason has proven themselves incapable of making reasonable decisions for themselves? Yes.
Read by Stephen Jay Gould. Sterilizing developmentally delayed people against their will or knowledge is nothing new.
I personally think this is a very slippery slope!
It is a pretty large leap to compare this situation of a dependant disabled woman who is now the mother of two very young children she is unable to care for to a government policy of eugenic sterilization.
It’s a very slippery slope. Have they actually proven the daughter in incapable of taking care of her children? Remember the case of the girl last year who fled to Ireland last after the courts would not allow her to marry? And they still took her baby away. And for very little reason. http://bliss-breastfeeding.blogspot.com/2010/10/joyfully-kissing-her-beautiful-baby-boy.html, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1246590/The-woman-told-stupid-baby-boy.html
The slope isn’t as slippery as it looks. This young woman has already demonstrated a lack of ability or willingness to raise her own child. She has already saddled her mother with one grandchild. How any chances does she get to get her act together? It isn’t fair to either her mother OR her children. Many mentally challenged people can make good parents; this girl, not so much.
I think this is appropriate. Her mother is likely her legal guardian or representative, and appears to have her (and her children’s) best interest in mind. My concern is though this will prevent future pregnancies, what about disease? Also, this girl may be being taken advantage of sexually because of her disability. I think she needs to be cared for with more supervision as well.
Does the UK not consider a mentally disabled woman under the 24 hour care of an adult to be a mental *child* ??
Here in the states, the men who are getting this girl pregnant would be up on charges for statutory rape at the least…
This girl is apparently in her mother’s care because she *cannot* care for herself, so she should be committed to guardianship. That *DOES* mean it becomes her mother’s decision/responsibility whether or not she should have children because those children are the woman’s *mother’s* responsibility as well.
Here in Canada we have a sad history of sterilizing the “mentally feeble” and the attendant lawsuits later on by people who weren’t quite as disabled as it was predicted they’d be as children. We also fund all abortions through tax and there are women having their seventh “or more”. I’d be more apt to offer free sterilization to the mass aborter …
I used to think this was unethical and a clear violation of personal rights. However after becoming a foster parent and the situations I have seen, I say it should be a supported law in some cases. I have seen many mentally incompetent young women birth several children. These children often have sever medical issues due to lack of proper prenatal care, the mothers medical issues, and many other reasons. The mothers almost always have children already in the system and most are bounced around from foster home to foster home because of there medical issues, or tricky court situations. It is sad. A lot of these children age out of foster care never being adopted. Never really end up with a family, no fond memories of a happy childhood its not fair to the children.