Dutch Women deemed unfit mothers sentenced to take contraception if bill passes

[Sol Invictus]

Khaled Diab
guardian.co.ok
Novermber 4 2009

Women in the Netherlands who are deemed by the state to be unfit mothers should be sentenced to take contraception for a prescribed period of two years, according to a draft bill before the Dutch parliament.

The proposed legislation would further punish parents who defied it by taking away their newborn infant. "It targets people who have been the subject of judicial intervention because of their bad parenting," explained the author of the bill Marjo Van Dijken of the socialist PvDA. "If someone refuses the contraception and becomes pregnant, the child must be taken away directly after birth."

When I see how some parents treat their children and come across adults who wish they'd never been born because of the abuse they endured as kids, I get some idea of where Van Dijken is coming from, but her proposed solution strikes me as far too draconian.

In fact, I have serious misgivings about the implications of this proposed law, and it raises a torrent of questions in my mind. Is it really the state's role to protect the unborn and does it have the right to control people's bodies in such a way and to deprive them of the basic right to procreate? Whatever happened to the presumption of innocence? Just because a parent was bad with one child, does it mean (s)he will repeat the offence?

Full Article (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/nov/04/humanrights-women/print)

[Groenewolf]

Rouvoet can be proud on his minstership where he may pass and enforce such meassurres :rolleyes2: .

[Jarl]

Women in the Netherlands who are deemed by the state to be unfit mothers should be sentenced to take contraception for a prescribed period of two years, according to a draft bill before the Dutch parliament.

The proposed legislation would further punish parents who defied it by taking away their newborn infant. "It targets people who have been the subject of judicial intervention because of their bad parenting," explained the author of the bill Marjo Van Dijken of the socialist PvDA. "If someone refuses the contraception and becomes pregnant, the child must be taken away directly after birth."

Ooops! That sounds nothing short of oldschool eugenics... looks like 1930s are coming back! This is worrying. Particularly the extent to which the state would be allowed to intervene.

[SwordoftheVistula]

They should have to be convicted of child abuse/neglect in a proper trial to take the kids away in the first place, but once they have been fairly convicted, then they shouldn't be allowed to have children. Same goes for people convicted of other serious crimes. I don't know if they have probation or parole in the Netherlands, but if so the PO can just make sure they take the pill, otherwise just tell them to report once/month to take the pill or else back to jail they go.

[Jarl]

Women in the Netherlands who are deemed by the state to be unfit mothers should be sentenced to take contraception for a prescribed period of two years, according to a draft bill before the Dutch parliament.

This creats lots of problems. What hides beneath the phrase "deemd unfit buy the state"? Who makes the decisions? The inspectors? This is vague and disturbing. This law would let strangers decide the fate of your family and intervene in the most intimate part of peoples' life. This is always a bad idea.

Another thing is the extent to which the freedoms are eroded. Where will this end? This is a very worrying trend. The state is getting more and more interested in the family life of its citizens and the upbringing of children. It wants to assume control over a very intimate part of human life. The state takes children away from the parents as soon as possible and "educates" them. The state decides what's allowed and what's forbidden, who has the right to have children and who does not... What's the ultimate aim here? Is the state to replace family? Are we to have healthy children, reflecting their parents' individualities and traditions of each family, or an army of school-trained clones, modern janissaries?

Perhaps one day the socialists decide parents are utterly useless, and family is an oppressive, reactionary "institution" which needs to be eradicated and disposed of? Just like in the article about Swedish lesbos who refuse to reveal their adopted child's sex, because they don't want to "brand" it in any way. Let it choose its sex itself, just like in a computer game. I got a better idea. Im not a socialist, but I can see that the ultimate solution would be to place all the children in carehouses. Let them all have "equal chances" and choose whom they want to become in future...

[Bobby Martnen]

Any woman who has ever taken contraception is completely unfit to be a mother.