Judicial Birth Control

A judge in Rochester, NY ordered a woman to stop having children or risk being placed in jail for criminal contempt. The 31 year old woman is a drug addict with seven children ranging in ages from 8 months to 12 years. Six of the children are in foster homes, while one lives with an aunt. The children were removed from the mother's custody in separate neglect hearings dating back to 2000 on the grounds that 3 of the children tested positive for cocaine at birth.

The judge stated "Because every child born deserves a mother and a father, or at the very least a mother or a father, this court is once again taking this unusual step of ordering this biological mother to conceive no more children until she reclaims her children from foster care or other caretakers."

The New York Civil Liberties Union responded with this statement, "the opinion cannot be enforced because it 'tramples on a fundamental right -- the right to procreate'."

As someone who grew up in a home with several foster children born with cocaine in their system, I say right on to the judge. Children have the right to grow up in loving homes of their own, not being raised in the system. Children have the right to not grow up mentally, physically, and behaviorally delayed due to their parent's inability to stop abusing drugs. I don't know, but it seems to me that this "mother" has trampled all over her childrens' rights and the New York Civil Liberties Union does not seem all that concerned about that .