What do you think?

[javasmom]

Does a court have the right to order a mentally ill (schizophrenic & bipolar)woman to have an abortion and be sterilized?
She was deemed incompetent to make the decision for herself.
I'm not sure how I feel about this. On one hand I agree this woman should NOT be having children, but on the other hand......

Court Vetoes Abortion For Schizophrenic Woman - Boston News Story - WCVB Boston

Thoughts?

[jzgrlduff]

No, I don't think a court should be able to force an abortion. Perhaps force adoption and steriliztion so there are no future pregnancies.

[Jan]

We can't know whether or not the court has the right, that's a legal issue. And in fact, the court order was that she has the right to have the child.
I don't know what I think about this... I see both sides.

The Massachusetts Appeals Court has overturned a judge's ruling ordering a mentally ill woman to have an abortion and then be sterilized.

[MyGoldenBoy]

That's a very short story and doesn't go into details at all.

I don't believe the courts should have that right to order something like that done. However, there are other alternatives - if she's that much of a danger to herself, she should have guardians appointed.

Morally, I believe that if she has guardians and cannot care for herself, adoption should be the course of action the guardians should choose, but that would be their decision.

Side note: If she considers herself very Catholic, having sex while not being married is a very big no-no. But the short story doesn't even say if she was married, or what kind of hearing this was (a guardianship hearing?).

[Canula2000]

unfortunately no, courts shouldn't have that right over a person but I can't help but think that it would be better she be sterilized.