> Jim Sharkey <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/05/08/conception.banned.ap/index.html
> "The couple has four children, and all four have
been
> place in foster
> care. The three that were tested for cocaine tested
> positive. The
> judge isn't forcing contraception on them or
> requiring them to get
> abortions. He did offer them free sterilization,
> however, and told
> them if they get pregnant again, they'll both be in
> contempt of court."
> The Reproductive Rights Project of the NYCLU has
> called it unconstitutional. And maybe it is. But I
> think that if the state
> is responsible for your children, and it looks like
> it will continue
> to be responsible for any more you make, it ought to
> have some say
> in whether or not you do have any more.
>
> It seems unlikely this ruling will stand up, but
> maybe it should.
This is really a sticky and slippery question, and I
think the 'maybe the judge ordered this as a wake-up
call to society' statement reasonable. The problem of
drug-users and children has been mentioned on-list
previously -- I think I said something about it in a
discussion of 'the war on drugs.' While I would
tentatively support imposition of some kind of
temporary contraception, there would also have to be
education/rehabilitation offered to the adults at
risk; forming up a truly independent and unbiased
panel to arbitrate and order such intervention would
be both necessary and exceptionally difficult. This
could all-too-easily descend into one more attack on
the economically or socially disenfranchised, and even
mentioning it raises the spectre of
eugenics-gone-horribly-wrong.
Several problems with the current 'wait and see what
happens' outlook:
- adoption of these drug-addicted, often malnourished
or seriously ill infants/children is not desirable to
the majority of childless people; their care requires
far more work, devotion and sacrifice, as well as
either large personal sums of money or significant
government funding
- in many states/cities there are far too many
children at-risk to be adequately monitored by social
services
- even when serious problems are brought to the
attention of 'the proper authorities,' sometimes
little or nothing is done (I have no figures to offer,
only anecdotal horror stories from friends/colleagues
in Special Ed, school psych, & school nursing)
Debbi
Shades Of Uplift's Probationers Maru
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