# Court Ordered Sterilization For The Incompentant **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 10, 2003, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/court-ordered-sterilization-for-the-incompentant/200838 "2003-09-10T20:40:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/court-ordered-sterilization-for-the-incompentant/200838/81 "2003-09-16T17:04:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by plnnr \* > \*\*However, I would be infringing on my charges rights if I attempted to have elective surgery performed on them as a protection against something that MAY or MAY NOT come to pass. \*\* How far does this go? Would you be allowed to put your charge on elective medication as a protection against something that may or may not come to pass? Because I would strongly, nay hysterically, support something like Depo-Provera over sterilization. But Depo is definitely a drug, with a drug’s occasionally nasty side-effects. Would you consider it okay? Julie ---
**Author:** ![sugaree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@sugaree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sugaree)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/court-ordered-sterilization-for-the-incompentant/200838/82 "2003-09-16T17:07:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by holliehobbie \* > **Your daughter is 11 years old and has her first period. Do you automatically begin feeding her birth control pills each morning with her Captain Crunch?** My theoretical eleven-year-old daughter in this example is at a normal developmental level for her age? If so, she will be able to tell me if she is attacked. She will, at least intellectually, understand what reprecussions there could be if she voluntarily engages in sex. And if she does become pregnant, she will, even at eleven, have a greater understanding of everything that is going on then will the women we are talking about. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by holliehobbie \* > **Nor have I ever known a parent to take his/her children to the doctor for regular exams to rule out the presence of STDs.** You don’t need a gynocological exam to see a symptom of pregnancy. Note the regularity of the menstrual cycle; watch for episodes of nausea. A caretaker should be this watchful over the health of their charge. Again, when I say I’m torn over the issue, I’m really torn. I’m as horrified as the situation spelled out in **lee’s** post as by the situation described in the OP. And I’m fearful of where it could spread. A point I already made, but want to keep bludgoning…I mean, bringing up is the developmental age of the woman in question. Not every woman unable to live independently requires constaint supervision and round-the-clock care. Some take buses to their part-time jobs. I knew a woman who lived alone in a apartment with her social worker and guardian frequently checking in on her. She loved her life and her “independence”-- she sure wasn’t equipped in any way to handle parenthood or pregnancy. [Fixed coding. – MEB] ---
**Author:** ![Waenara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@Waenara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waenara)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/court-ordered-sterilization-for-the-incompentant/200838/83 "2003-09-16T20:37:35Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by holliehobbie_ > **Wouldn’t it be even better to treat all infants and children with antibiotics on a regular basis? Then, it wouldn’t even be necessary to take the time and effort to detect the presence of disease in the first place.** I just want to point out that this is the worst possible thing you could do, from a medical standpoint. True, antibiotics have been overprescribed in the past. However, within the last decade or so (I’m not exactly sure) doctors have decreased the use of antibiotics, and are now prescribing them only when necessary (ie. _not_ for viral infections, only bacterial, and only when the case is severe enough to warrant intervention). Overuse of antibiotics creates antibiotic-resistant bacteria. That doesn’t help anyone in the long term. ---
**Author:** ![Dogface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@Dogface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogface)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/court-ordered-sterilization-for-the-incompentant/200838/84 "2003-09-16T21:28:55Z")
All crimes are committed or abetted by people. Therefore, to prevent crime and, more importantly, to prevent the suffering that comes from crime, all people must be eliminated. Perfectly logical. A perfect solution, since it would eradicate crime. Who wants to volunteer and “set an example”? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/court-ordered-sterilization-for-the-incompentant/200838.md?page=4)