Mag, et. al.,

If the women in Florida are severely disabled enough that caring for the
babies would be a major hardship either emotionally or physically, or if
caring for an infant conceived through a rape is something they are not
willing to do, I'd agree with it *_IF IT IS THEIR CHOICE_*.  The
sterilization would be the same thing.

The part that bothers me is saying that the women will be sterilized
because of this.  That seems to punish the women in a way that the
perpetrator will not be punished....unless he/they will also be
castrated, which may be appropriate.

It brings to mind something I've discussed with my mom and my wife.  My
mom went through nurses training in the late forties or early fifties at
the University of Iowa.  Part of her training was at the UI "Hospital
School," where a lot of intensive therapy for kids with CP and other
disabilities was performed.  Mom said that a lot of the young girls
there were routinely sterilized.  She defended the practice until Janet
and I got together in 1995, because of reasons probably similar to Gov.
Bush.  When she got to know Janet, she changed her mind, because Janet
had been a student at the Hospital school for summer PT, OT, and speech
tune-ups when she was in elementary school, and mom realized that some
of the girls that had been sterilized when she was in school probably
had the intellectual capacity that Janet does, (she's got a Master's in
adult education) and should not have had that choice taken away from
them.

Kendall Corbett
[log in to unmask]


-----Original Message-----
From: Magenta Raine [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Sunday, May 25, 2003 5:46 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: My Job (was Re: Voucher Plan Removes Disabled Preference.)

Excellent job, Joy!  I read today  about two cases in Florida where
mentally
challenged women are having  abortions after being raped. Gov. Jeb bush
signed
these orders. What do you think ought to be done in cases like this? He
is
also ordering them to be sterilized.  I'm wondering how else they are
going to
find out these and other   women are getting raped in group homes. It's
not an
easy answer.

Mag, who cried at the end of Bruce Almighty :-)

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I am available to do writing, editing, reporting, designing jobs,
including
business cards, etc. I am also a disability rights activist.
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