Do parents have the right to take a child's fertility away?

mvilla2426

This popped into my head today as I was thinking about something else.

So basically, say parents have a female child. And for some odd reason the daughter's mind won't age past a certain age-- lets just say five years old. When their daughter reaches a certain age, do her parents have the right to take her fertility away? Like... in case she gets raped or something??

I'm not sure how I feel just yet, but I thought it would be a good discussion.

Bahet

I think they should but it shouldn't be just their decision. A medical/psychological/legal consensus should be reached as well.

KimmyEB

I think they should but it shouldn't be just their decision. A medical/psychological/legal consensus should be reached as well.

Agree, though it's not something I would personally do, should I ever be a parent in that situation.

servilia

Using your example (that intelligence won't exceed that of a 5 year old), my answer is yes.

sexforjaffacakes

You never know what will happen or what medicine will acomplish in future in regards to mental health and development, so no. Maybe temporarily, eg the implant or injection or coil or whatever, but nothing permamnent. There is always the morning after pill or abortion as a worse case scenario.

Besides, if this person will have the mind of a five year old their whole life, the chances of them being in a situation where they'd get pregnant must be very slim - you'd never send a five year old off into the big bad world to fend for themselves, so surely you'd have full time care for someone with the mind of a child. Yes I know horrible things can still happen to little kids, but the odds of an individual getting raped as in the example are still very low.

This is an oddly specific topic btw.

mvilla2426

This is an oddly specific topic btw.

There isn't any reason behind my "specificness" To be honest-- since you brought it up-- I was thinking about permanant BC methods for MYSELF and my mind wandered into thinking about a situation like this. So no, there is no specific reason/person/situation that I'm thinking of.

Grimmerick

I agree with some of the others that say she should be evaluated by a medical professional to aide in the decision. But at the least her parent should have the right to put her on birth control.

AlsDonkBoxSquat

My family's genetics has an abnormality. It's passed from father to daughter (not sons) to son (not daughter). While the women carry it only the boys show the mental disabilities, and not all of them, and it's not a guarantee that she will pass it to her children. With every normal male child born the abnormality falls out of the line, but with each generation the disorder gets worse as the abnormality grows. After the genetics testing was done and the pattern was discovered and the genetic abnormality isolated, all of the disabled men and boys in our family (my mom's disabled cousins and one child) were sterilized to stop the progression. I don't know if it's right, most of me thinks it is because I know them. This is what I do know:
1) they don't have the mental capacity to raise a child, they don't even have the capability to care for themselves
2) I'm glad it wasn't my decision to make, it was the decision of the two generations in front of me

debloves2ride

Interesting topic. But I think if the medical experts that are in charge of the case agree that this person's mental capacity will not grow past the age of five ( or so ) then the parents or legal guardian should have the right to have the person sterilized. If they don't and something happens so this person gets pregnant then the parents and/or society have the burden of raising another child in a probably stressed or dysfunctional household. not a good situation.....

_SusieQ_

I have a cousin who is 10 years younger than me (30). She has a mental disability, not sure it has ever been clearly defined, but I would put her at about the mental/emotional capability of 8-10 years old. 6 years ago she was having stomach issues, and my aunt took her to the doctor several times to figure out what was wrong. FINALLY they decided to do a pregnancy test. Since my cousin had never had a relationship (that anyone knew of) this was just never considered before. Guess what, she was 39 weeks pregnant and gave birth a couple days later. No warning, no preparation. She was/is a big girl, so the pregnancy didn't show. SHE had no clue what was happening to her.

My aunt, after a discussion with my cousin about it, made the decision to have my cousins tubes tied while still in the hospital. Basically my aunt is raising her grandchild as my cousin doesn't/can't work. She wasn't capable of taking adequate care of the baby when she was small, and so my aunt had to pay for child care while she worked.

Now that the baby is older and in school, my cousin is much better with her. But in this case, I absolutely agree with my aunt making this decision.

servilia

Unfortunately, the sexual abuse of mentally impaired women (not excluding men but it is mostly women) is more common than people might think. I wouldn't judge anyone for taking this measure with someone who will never be able to care for a child.

LuckyLeprechaun

I had an aunt who was mentally retarded and schizophrenic. When she reached the age of menstruation she was sterilized. It's not unheard of.

_SusieQ_

Agreed. My cousin was not raped in the true sense of the word, but I do believe she was manipulated by this guy. He did not stick around after the baby was born, and no one has had contact with him in years. I don't even remember now how she met him, I believe she worked with him the brief time she tried to hold down a job.

Regmama

No, because it violates the dignity of their child.

suzycreamcheese

i wouldnt do it, and i dont like the idea of it