Court May Force Mentally Disabled Nevada Woman to Have Abortion

Originally posted by shadwgirl
That is not the point. The point is the state government is trying to force a woman to have an abortion and be sterilized. Would you be so glib if this was happening to your daughter? This is just wrong. It's one thing if this is something her and her family chose but this is the state doing it. Funny thing about this, Hitler forcibly sterilized mentally handicapped women. Is this the kind of power you want a government having over you?

The fact of the matter is that our country is not alone. We have numerous times in our past sterilized and aborted fetuses of mentally disabled people. My state is currently in an uproar because the promised $$ to be given to the victims from the 1960s was *accidentally* left out of the budget!!!!

In a state hospital I used to work at for the disabled; female patients got pregnant all the time and the state or whoever was the legal guardian would always opt for abortion! I cant tell you how many patients I had that I gave daily birth control pills...

This is however, very wrong!

The sources for the story are very slanted and extremely suspect. Something is missing... like the other side to the story.

This has always been a strange subject to debate. What do we consider human beings? I think maybe we might be confused on this. We seem to have no problem killing them if they live in another country or sending them to die in another country. Sometimes we execute them for breaking laws.

But small human beings are so precious. We like them when their little!
We’ll find a way to kill them later.

Why don’t we rationalize for a moment here.

Maybe that baby is going to suck as a human being.

Originally posted by VoidHawk
I'm not for or against abortions, I believe its the mothers choice and she'll have to live with her decision, but in this case the mother has people lined up to adopt the child, so why force her to abort?

Start with the disabled, once thats accepted apply the same rules to the unemployed, then those earning below a certain wage, then....if you havent got permision you cant have a child.

This is actually a good idea.

I am not being sacrcastic.

Ah the hypocrisy if she wanted to get rid of it, it would be a fetus a non person and her right to kill the unborn.

With 7 billion people on this planet, I'm sure those 6 couples can find a baby somewhere from someone who isn't mentally disabled.

What if she has the baby and no one does adopt it and you have to pay taxes to have an orphanage or foster parents take care of it for the next 18 years? And what if the baby is disabled and we all have to pay millions of dollars for healthcare for it forever? Would all of you still think it's a great idea for her to have it?

I hadn't read any posts here as I wanted to enter an unbiased reply to the OP.
I grew up with a brother that had a lot of voices and left home very early in life to live on the road. (i'm adopted btw to throw that variable in the mix)

each person should be evaluated on a person by person basis. (this is a very complex disorder, maybe some evaluation could help make positive descisions)

my heart goes out to the fact that this disease IS genetic and passed down to children.
I have a huge problem with this as it doesn't give the new life a positive shot at life. there's a very good chance they will also have this disorder.

it's not fair to the person that will most likely grow into it.
tough descision.

reply to post by zooplancton


Nah, fetal alcohol syndrome isn't genetic, it's caused by prenatal conditions (in a word, the mother drinking while pregnant). If it were a genetic issue, I'd have a much stronger opinion on it. As it stands, I don't really care too much either way, with a slight lean towards approving the abortion.

She can't consent to sex, therefore raped. Why does this article say the sex might have been consensual? Can mental 6 year olds consent? NO.

In my opinion any physician that conducts an abortion in this case, even should the judge order it, it committing an enormous breach of medical ethics should the woman in question not give consent.

I realize there is a grey area here ethically, because it could be argued that she is too mentally diminished to make rational judgments for herself. I don't know all the details pertaining to that. But provided she has any understanding of the issue and capacity to express her opposition to the procedure at all, that means she hasn't given informed consent in my book.

Originally posted by shadwgirl


ok, I am officially appalled with the way our country is going. A mentally handicapped woman is in court fighting for her unborn child. She does admit that she can't raise the poor thing but has 6 couples willing to adopt. What right does the state have to force an abortion and sterilization on this woman? If she chose the abortion it would be one thing but the state is going to court to force her.


mods if this is in the wrong category, please move. thanks

www.lifenews.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

The same right the state has to force someone to give birth to an unwanted fetus.

Pro-choice is looking pretty good right now, huh?

reply to post by 3chainz


If she is going up to a truck stop and offering herself, like it clearly says, then rape would be awfully hard to prove. (Please understand that I think anyone that would take advantage of this woman is sick!)If the man doesn't clearly know that she is incapable of making her own decisions (because she is in a grown woman's body), how can he be considered to have raped her?

We haven't seen or heard this woman speak so I am unclear how she would appear to anyone not knowledgeable of her condition. But once again, I think rape would be hard to prove. Especially with the home knowing she would go off for days to have sexual relations.

this has been going on for at least 50 years....
I met a women in ny who was forced to abort by the state...
how many of yous would change your opinion if the article stated that she was on meds that would have obliterated any chance the they child would not have been severely deformed???

this is why NY forced the women I met...the meds she was on...

maybe it is the same with this women...

or maybe a genetic problem, but kind of wonder, she it says she was born with fetal alchohol syndrome or whatever it was...which would cause me to ask...are her parents of right mind to have a say???


I just think we might not be having all the facts told to us...
and well, some meds can really screw up a deveoloping fetus rather severely...

When will people see that exterminating a life is murder, pure and simple. No other argument will hold water. You will silence a beating heart of a Human being.

Originally posted by 3chainz
She can't consent to sex, therefore raped. Why does this article say the sex might have been consensual? Can mental 6 year olds consent? NO.

It is possible that different standards apply to mentally disabled than kids, and they can give informed consent to sex.

Let her have her kid, but all the parental responsibility must lie on her caretaker. State should not fund the bill for children of mentally disabled.

reply to post by dawnstar


Did you read the article?!

She is adopted, and she is taking meds that may affect her baby. Jeez, read it then come back, as you might have something good to offer here.

reply to post by Plotus


I don't know....
can the guys in afghanistan come home if we do???

or are you just talking about the soon to be beating heartbeat that will be there soon inside a women's body???

to answer you question a little better.....
we can't even treat those born people with heartbeats right....and well, seem to have no problem blowing up little kids in other countries...
Got a feeling that will have to change first...
then, maybe, just maybe, we might view the unborn a little better...

but, what if the medications that was given this women causes a very short lifetime filled with suffering and sorrow for all who come in contact with the child not to mention the child itself?

I tend to believe that to allow the baby to develop, well, we are sentencing some poor soul to become entangled to that misformed body, but if we cut the life short, well, that soul would be free to find another vessel to attache to, and might actually have a better life ahead of them...

can you prove otherwise???

reply to post by dawnstar

or maybe a genetic problem, but kind of wonder, she it says she was born with fetal alchohol syndrome or whatever it was...which would cause me to ask...are her parents of right mind to have a say???


I just think we might not be having all the facts told to us...
and well, some meds can really screw up a deveoloping fetus rather severely...

Exactly. She may very well have transmittable genetic problems (she has severe epilepsy, for one thing, which CAN be hereditary -- but also may be a symptom of her severe brain damage from fetal alchohol syndrome which is NOT hereditary) that we (or her parents) don't know about.

The "parents" in her case are adoptive, so it wasn't her "mom" who was the drunk that caused the girl's incapacity. BUT, the parents are the ones who allow her to live in a group home with obviously inadequate supervision. They don't know ANYTHING about the father, and who knows what his mental capacity or genetic makeup is?

Besides that, yes meds AND ILLICIT DRUGS can severely damage a fetus. If Elisa is free to go have sex with truckers, who knows what else she is doing? It wouldn't be any more difficult for someone to "dose" her and get her hooked on some horrible thing like crack or meth than it was to get her pregnant.

The only thing Social Services did is ask for a judge to review data related to WHETHER OR NOT there is danger to her or the child. They did not insist she SHOULD have an abortion or be sterilized.

There are just too many unknowns here for us to even begin to blame Social Services, let alone to accuse them of "just wanting to sterilized mentally handicapped people"!!

reply to post by Doodle19815
think I did...
this has been going on for at least 50 years. so, it's not just something new, caused by the more liberal lifestyle....

and well, I have gotten used to my posts not being read by some on here...often times it's quite obvious!!
so, well, no I didn't go to the article...
so what??
like I said, many don't even read my posts and respond to me when I make valid points...


if the article is correct, maybe the judge is wrong...
if it is slanted, like many are now days, maybe he is right...

the main point I was trying to make is that it's not something new, and sometimes there is very good reason for the decision...

a conclusion I made a long time ago when I was talking with the women I had met.
which, well, the experience did seem to really mess her up a tad bit, had happened years ago, and you could see the emotional trauma in her while she spoke about it...

I kind of think that the trauma would have been much more if she had the whole world watching and pitching in their opinions based on half the facts or no facts...