11:04am August 15, 2013

➸ Judge Orders Woman To Have Abortion Because She Had One Before

diloolie:

loriadorable:

thebluedream:

ihavenoidea28:

choosechoice:

sesquedoodle:

TRIGGER WARNING: abortion, forced abortion, forced sterilisation.

This is kind of old news now but I didn’t hear about it at the time and it freaked me the hell out.

NO

THIS IS NOT FUCKING OKAY

I’m pro-choice. And this woman was not given a choice.

Gah this is so sickening.

She told the judge that she regrets the prior abortion and is agitated about it. What does the judge do? Rule that she’s fuckin’ incompetent and can’t make her own decisions DESPITE her being clear enough to discuss her prior abortion AND say that her Catholic faith prevented her from terminating a fetus. This is sexism and this is ableism. This is fuckin’ ridiculous and a denial of this woman’s rights.

Basic summary: A MA judge ordered a schizophrenic woman to undergo a forced abortion with the rationale she had an abortion once, so if she weren’t schizophrenic she’d obviously choose to have an abortion because what woman would want to have a kid if she were schizophrenic? Obviously she’d automatically choose to have an abortion. Even though the woman is Catholic now and really regretful about having an abortion, so obviously she ISN’T choosing to have an abortion.

She also ordered that the woman have a forced sterilization so they “don’t find themselves in this situation again.”

Fortunately both orders were overturned by the MA Supreme Court, but the parents of the adult woman are appealing the ruling so they can have their adult daughter sterilized, because it’s just that important for able people to control the reproductive choices of disabled people.

This happened in 2012 and the legal case is continuing into 2013, for everyone who thinks that forcible sterilization of disabled people (especially but not exclusively women and people of color) is a thing of the 1950s and 60s.

You can find more news articles on the Mary Moe case but be prepared for journalist waxing poetical on her ability to consent, whether or not she should be allowed to give birth, whether she should be placed on permanent birth control, and all sorts of fun stuff.

What the absolute, complete everloving fuckity fuck HOW IS THIS LEGAL??!?! I mean, people with disabilities, particularly women, and particularly women of color (I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say there’s a PRETTY good chance she’s a woman of color), are already at such a high risk of medical abuse and reproductive coercion and forced sterilization so I don’t want to act like I’m surprised but SERIOUSLY WHAT THE FUCK.

I cannot understand these fucking parents who want to do things like STERILIZE THEIR FUCKING KIDS. I JUST CAN’T.

I’ve known about this since it happened, and once again, this is a clear case of ableism. Eugenics has a long and storied history in the U.S., and poor women of color have borne the brunt of it for decades.

And it’s still happening.