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1 results

  • 13 - The Ethics of Controlling Reproduction in a Population with Mental Disabilities

  • Edited by Geoffrey Miller , Yale University, Connecticut
  • Book:
    Pediatric Bioethics
    Published online:
    07 May 2010
    Print publication:
    23 November 2009, pp 173-185

  • Summary

    This chapter focuses on reproduction and contraception among people with a compromised capacity for decision making. While it is widely believed that the right to sexual expression is an important human right available no less to the disabled than to others, defining the contours of that right, and specifically categorizing who may or who may not be capable of exercising it, remain elusive tasks. The role of parents of the mentally disabled must be considered against this uncertain backdrop where paternalism and autonomy are in tension. The sexual behavior of minors, and related decisions about contraception, pregnancy, and childbirth, are features of the ongoing and vigorous debate about reproductive privacy. The chapter illustrates two cases, one involving extensive surgery and the other a tubal ligation where sterilizing operations have been a focal point.