Judge can’t forbid babies Ruling barring pair’s procreation is overturned The Associated Press
ROCHESTER — A New York appeals court has overturned a Family Court judge’s order that a drug-addicted homeless couple have no more children. The Appellate Division of state Supreme Court ruled Friday that Monroe County Family Court Judge Marilyn O’Connor overstepped her authority when she banned Stephanie Pendleton and Rodney Evers in 2004 from having more children until they could get back the four children they lost to foster care. “We conclude that the court had no authority to prohibit [Pendleton] from procreating,” a five-judge panel of the appellate court said in a written decision. Only Pendleton, now 38, challenged O’Connor’s ruling. O’Connor ruled in March 2004 that Pendleton and Evers had neglected their children — three of whom tested positive for cocaine at birth — and should have no more children until they showed they could take care of them. She directed them to seek family planning services as well as parenting counseling and treatment for drug addiction. “All babies deserve more than to be born to parents who have proven they cannot possibly raise or parent a child,” O’Connor wrote. “This neglected existence is an immense burden to place on a child and on society.” That ruling drew fierce criticism from civil libertarians, particularly the New York Civil Liberties Union, which filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the appeal that said the ruling effectively required Pendleton to abstain from sex, use birth control or be sterilized. In the Appellate Division ruling, written by Associate Justice Robert Hurlbutt, the court said she exceeded the power given to Family Court by state law. The appeals judges denied O’Connor’s contention that her right to declare a “no pregnancy” order is implied in a section of the law that allows a judge to impose medical treatment. The appeals court also said O’Connor erred when she refused to vacate her ruling on the grounds that Pendleton didn’t appear at a court proceeding. “Regardless of whether respondent willfully defaulted with respect to the hearing, an order prohibiting respondent from conceiving a child is, insofar as our research discloses, unprecedented in this state,” the court said.
Isn't it rather funny how all of a sudden 'procreation' is almost like sacred. And in a society, no less, that promotes abortion, the day after pill, birthcontrol pills and condoms like it's candy. Make up my mind here!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
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