Should Kirsten Johnson be allowed to have kids?

[pop goes the weasel]

Everything old is new again. Unfortunately.

Vera Howse thinks her 26-year-old niece Kirsten Johnson wouldn't be a good mother, so she's asked the Cook County Probate Court for authorization to sterilize her niece against her will. Johnson is cognitively impaired, and her aunt is her legal guardian.

This case has broad significance because Illinois, unlike other states, hasn't established when a court should grant a guardian authority to have a ward permanently sterilized.

Most cases like this are resolved in the doctor's office. Physicians at one Chicago hospital system estimate that it receives one to three guardian requests to sterilize their wards per month, usually from parents of disabled adolescents. After counseling, most eventually opt instead for long-term reversible birth control.

But in this case Howse continued to insist that her niece be sterilized permanently, and her internist and psychiatrist did not object. Johnson countered by contacting Equip for Equality, a disability rights organization that represented her in court. Johnson, who lives with her aunt in south suburban Matteson, is sexually active. She has always used birth control (her aunt currently helps her use the patch), but says if she were to marry a man who could help her parent someday, she would like to have a child.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/otherviews/cst-nws-sterile21.html

I can't help but notice that Johnson is motivated and knowledgable enough to have sought out an advocate to protect her rights. Yet still the court ruled against her.

[Horse with no Name]

1. This breaks my heart

" but says if she were to marry a man who could help her parent someday, she would like to have a child."

She isn't cognitively impaired enough not to realize that she needs help raising a child.
I thought our world had progressed well past this even being an issue.
Let me guess...the Aunt is probably some kind of fucking fundie freeper.
In Bush's world...what was old is new again. You got that right.

[bluedeminredstate]

2. Yep. Bush World is here!

"She isn't cognitively impaired enough not to realize that she needs help raising a child."

Or knowing that she needs to be responsible enough to use birth control until she's ready to have a child. She's not getting pregnant while she enjoys a sex life - doesn't that demonstrate some level of understanding how to behave like an adult? And can't adults make their own reproductive decisions?
Oh yeah, unless it's about emergency contraception, abortion, birth control deemed abortion agents, and sex before marriage...
nevermind.

:mad:

[Zenlitened]

3. "...Johnson is motivated and knowledgable enough..."

Totally agree -- that tells us everything we need to know, doesn't it? If she's able to fight for her rights, I'd say she's by definition entitled to them.

What a sad story. :(

[wli]

4. the spectre of eugenics resurfaces n/t

[no_hypocrisy]

5. Heads up: government and private sterilization of individuals is still

legal in this country. In other words, the Supreme Court case of Buck v. Bell has not been overturned. This fact is not exactly common knowledge among Americans. The Third Reich admired our system of sterilizing undesirables during its heyday in the 20s and 30s.

http://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/internet/library/historical/eugenics/

[salvorhardin]

6. Borderline to low-average

The article states that her IQ is borderline to low-average. This would suggest to me that her IQ is between 80 and 90 since normal* intelligence is usually taken to be between 90 to 110. Her disabilities are resultant from being hit by a car. That would suggest to me that her cognitive impairment is not uniform, that specific areas of the brain are involved. The fact that she can read but not drive also supports this idea. People with cognitive impairment tend to also show emotional impairment but we don't know this from the article.

Overall I'd say this is bullshit. We're not talking about someone incapable of feeding themselves. We're talking about someone with mild-moderate cognitive impairment from being hit by a car. Even if this was the result of a genetic defect I'd still say this is bullshit. This woman should have every right to decide whether she wants to have a child.


*Normal here is used in the statistical sense -- 50% of the population has an IQ between 90 and 110.