She has been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder. Since stopping her medication at the end of 2019, she has been anxious and suspicious. She suspects her neighbors are plotting against her and roamed the streets. Between 2002 and 2015, she had four children, all of whom were removed from home. When she was pregnant for the fifth time, she had an abortion after negative reactions from her environment. It made her very sad.
In the spring of 2020 she will face the Rotterdam court. The mental health institution that treats her, the Parnassia Group, wants to oblige her to provide care. To stabilize her mental health, a care plan has been drawn up, which includes limiting her freedom of movement and administering medication. And mandatory contraception. Her psychiatrist thinks she should get the contraceptive injection or an IUD. The woman does not want that, she tells the judge. She has a relationship and wedding plans and would like to have another child. She wants to be able to decide for herself about contraceptives.
Can you forbid someone to have a child? The question has been asked for years and has been controversial for years. Proponents point to the suffering of children in poor parenting situations, opponents to fundamental rights, such as free reproduction.
Since the beginning of last year, there has been a new law – the Mandatory Mental Health Care Act – that makes it possible to impose birth control in practice. Court cases now show that contraception can be seen as mandatory care for women with serious psychiatric problems. A public prosecutor can apply for a so-called care authorization which is then reviewed by a judge. Four courts heard at least six such cases last year.
suicidal
The six judgments provide insight into what determines whether someone can become a mother. In all cases, it is about averting ‘serious disadvantages’ for the women or those around them: because of their psychological problems, they threaten severe neglect and may pose a danger to others or themselves.
Sometimes they suffer from delusions – such as the woman with mild intellectual disability and a chronic mental disorder whose case in October 2020 at the District Court of the Northern Netherlands served. For example, she thinks her head is backwards and hears voices instructing her to stop eating and drinking. As her psychotic symptoms increase, she becomes suicidal and aggressive. “The person concerned then starts cursing and yelling at her voices, kicking and hitting with or against doors and brandishing knives.”
Read here an interview with Jolanda Doornbos, whose parents have an intellectual disability, but they themselves do not.
The women often have little insight into their illness. According to their practitioners, they do not oversee what problems becoming pregnant or having children entails. The woman from the north of the Netherlands wants to have children, but the psychiatrist has “great doubts” whether she can survive a possible pregnancy: she uses cannabis to calm herself and the dose of antipsychotics she receives would be harmful to a baby.
In a decision of the court of Rotterdam, about a woman with an intellectual disability and schizophrenia, her therapist says that a pregnancy “in view of her diabetes will also lead to somatic damage.” The woman lives in assisted living, is morbidly obese and is “unable to carry out general daily activities of life.” Moreover, she is incompetent and is under guardianship: she will therefore not be given authority over the child.
In one woman, from the Zeeland-West-Brabant region, the requested authorization rejected. Although she uses drugs and, according to the therapist, she is getting worse and worse, the judge sees no grounds for mandatory care in the form of the contraceptive injection. The woman already has a hormone implant and the fact that she says she wants it removed “does not justify the forced use of contraception.” That would be a last resort, the judge said.
She has been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder. Since stopping her medication at the end of 2019, she has been anxious and suspicious. She suspects her neighbors are plotting against her and roamed the streets. Between 2002 and 2015, she had four children, all of whom were removed from home. When she was pregnant for the fifth time, she had an abortion after negative reactions from her environment. It made her very sad.
In the spring of 2020 she will face the Rotterdam court. The mental health institution that treats her, the Parnassia Group, wants to oblige her to provide care. To stabilize her mental health, a care plan has been drawn up, which includes limiting her freedom of movement and administering medication. And mandatory contraception. Her psychiatrist thinks she should get the contraceptive injection or an IUD. The woman does not want that, she tells the judge. She has a relationship and wedding plans and would like to have another child. She wants to be able to decide for herself about contraceptives.
Can you forbid someone to have a child? The question has been asked for years and has been controversial for years. Proponents point to the suffering of children in poor parenting situations, opponents to fundamental rights, such as free reproduction.
Since the beginning of last year, there has been a new law – the Mandatory Mental Health Care Act – that makes it possible to impose birth control in practice. Court cases now show that contraception can be seen as mandatory care for women with serious psychiatric problems. A public prosecutor can apply for a so-called care authorization which is then reviewed by a judge. Four courts heard at least six such cases last year.
suicidal
The six judgments provide insight into what determines whether someone can become a mother. In all cases, it is about averting ‘serious disadvantages’ for the women or those around them: because of their psychological problems, they threaten severe neglect and may pose a danger to others or themselves.
Sometimes they suffer from delusions – such as the woman with mild intellectual disability and a chronic mental disorder whose case in October 2020 at the District Court of the Northern Netherlands served. For example, she thinks her head is backwards and hears voices instructing her to stop eating and drinking. As her psychotic symptoms increase, she becomes suicidal and aggressive. “The person concerned then starts cursing and yelling at her voices, kicking and hitting with or against doors and brandishing knives.”
Read here an interview with Jolanda Doornbos, whose parents have an intellectual disability, but they themselves do not.
The women often have little insight into their illness. According to their practitioners, they do not oversee what problems becoming pregnant or having children entails. The woman from the north of the Netherlands wants to have children, but the psychiatrist has “great doubts” whether she can survive a possible pregnancy: she uses cannabis to calm herself and the dose of antipsychotics she receives would be harmful to a baby.
In a decision of the court of Rotterdam, about a woman with an intellectual disability and schizophrenia, her therapist says that a pregnancy “in view of her diabetes will also lead to somatic damage.” The woman lives in assisted living, is morbidly obese and is “unable to carry out general daily activities of life.” Moreover, she is incompetent and is under guardianship: she will therefore not be given authority over the child.
In one woman, from the Zeeland-West-Brabant region, the requested authorization rejected. Although she uses drugs and, according to the therapist, she is getting worse and worse, the judge sees no grounds for mandatory care in the form of the contraceptive injection. The woman already has a hormone implant and the fact that she says she wants it removed “does not justify the forced use of contraception.” That would be a last resort, the judge said.
She has been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder. Since stopping her medication at the end of 2019, she has been anxious and suspicious. She suspects her neighbors are plotting against her and roamed the streets. Between 2002 and 2015, she had four children, all of whom were removed from home. When she was pregnant for the fifth time, she had an abortion after negative reactions from her environment. It made her very sad.
In the spring of 2020 she will face the Rotterdam court. The mental health institution that treats her, the Parnassia Group, wants to oblige her to provide care. To stabilize her mental health, a care plan has been drawn up, which includes limiting her freedom of movement and administering medication. And mandatory contraception. Her psychiatrist thinks she should get the contraceptive injection or an IUD. The woman does not want that, she tells the judge. She has a relationship and wedding plans and would like to have another child. She wants to be able to decide for herself about contraceptives.
Can you forbid someone to have a child? The question has been asked for years and has been controversial for years. Proponents point to the suffering of children in poor parenting situations, opponents to fundamental rights, such as free reproduction.
Since the beginning of last year, there has been a new law – the Mandatory Mental Health Care Act – that makes it possible to impose birth control in practice. Court cases now show that contraception can be seen as mandatory care for women with serious psychiatric problems. A public prosecutor can apply for a so-called care authorization which is then reviewed by a judge. Four courts heard at least six such cases last year.
suicidal
The six judgments provide insight into what determines whether someone can become a mother. In all cases, it is about averting ‘serious disadvantages’ for the women or those around them: because of their psychological problems, they threaten severe neglect and may pose a danger to others or themselves.
Sometimes they suffer from delusions – such as the woman with mild intellectual disability and a chronic mental disorder whose case in October 2020 at the District Court of the Northern Netherlands served. For example, she thinks her head is backwards and hears voices instructing her to stop eating and drinking. As her psychotic symptoms increase, she becomes suicidal and aggressive. “The person concerned then starts cursing and yelling at her voices, kicking and hitting with or against doors and brandishing knives.”
Read here an interview with Jolanda Doornbos, whose parents have an intellectual disability, but they themselves do not.
The women often have little insight into their illness. According to their practitioners, they do not oversee what problems becoming pregnant or having children entails. The woman from the north of the Netherlands wants to have children, but the psychiatrist has “great doubts” whether she can survive a possible pregnancy: she uses cannabis to calm herself and the dose of antipsychotics she receives would be harmful to a baby.
In a decision of the court of Rotterdam, about a woman with an intellectual disability and schizophrenia, her therapist says that a pregnancy “in view of her diabetes will also lead to somatic damage.” The woman lives in assisted living, is morbidly obese and is “unable to carry out general daily activities of life.” Moreover, she is incompetent and is under guardianship: she will therefore not be given authority over the child.
In one woman, from the Zeeland-West-Brabant region, the requested authorization rejected. Although she uses drugs and, according to the therapist, she is getting worse and worse, the judge sees no grounds for mandatory care in the form of the contraceptive injection. The woman already has a hormone implant and the fact that she says she wants it removed “does not justify the forced use of contraception.” That would be a last resort, the judge said.
She has been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder. Since stopping her medication at the end of 2019, she has been anxious and suspicious. She suspects her neighbors are plotting against her and roamed the streets. Between 2002 and 2015, she had four children, all of whom were removed from home. When she was pregnant for the fifth time, she had an abortion after negative reactions from her environment. It made her very sad.
In the spring of 2020 she will face the Rotterdam court. The mental health institution that treats her, the Parnassia Group, wants to oblige her to provide care. To stabilize her mental health, a care plan has been drawn up, which includes limiting her freedom of movement and administering medication. And mandatory contraception. Her psychiatrist thinks she should get the contraceptive injection or an IUD. The woman does not want that, she tells the judge. She has a relationship and wedding plans and would like to have another child. She wants to be able to decide for herself about contraceptives.
Can you forbid someone to have a child? The question has been asked for years and has been controversial for years. Proponents point to the suffering of children in poor parenting situations, opponents to fundamental rights, such as free reproduction.
Since the beginning of last year, there has been a new law – the Mandatory Mental Health Care Act – that makes it possible to impose birth control in practice. Court cases now show that contraception can be seen as mandatory care for women with serious psychiatric problems. A public prosecutor can apply for a so-called care authorization which is then reviewed by a judge. Four courts heard at least six such cases last year.
suicidal
The six judgments provide insight into what determines whether someone can become a mother. In all cases, it is about averting ‘serious disadvantages’ for the women or those around them: because of their psychological problems, they threaten severe neglect and may pose a danger to others or themselves.
Sometimes they suffer from delusions – such as the woman with mild intellectual disability and a chronic mental disorder whose case in October 2020 at the District Court of the Northern Netherlands served. For example, she thinks her head is backwards and hears voices instructing her to stop eating and drinking. As her psychotic symptoms increase, she becomes suicidal and aggressive. “The person concerned then starts cursing and yelling at her voices, kicking and hitting with or against doors and brandishing knives.”
Read here an interview with Jolanda Doornbos, whose parents have an intellectual disability, but they themselves do not.
The women often have little insight into their illness. According to their practitioners, they do not oversee what problems becoming pregnant or having children entails. The woman from the north of the Netherlands wants to have children, but the psychiatrist has “great doubts” whether she can survive a possible pregnancy: she uses cannabis to calm herself and the dose of antipsychotics she receives would be harmful to a baby.
In a decision of the court of Rotterdam, about a woman with an intellectual disability and schizophrenia, her therapist says that a pregnancy “in view of her diabetes will also lead to somatic damage.” The woman lives in assisted living, is morbidly obese and is “unable to carry out general daily activities of life.” Moreover, she is incompetent and is under guardianship: she will therefore not be given authority over the child.
In one woman, from the Zeeland-West-Brabant region, the requested authorization rejected. Although she uses drugs and, according to the therapist, she is getting worse and worse, the judge sees no grounds for mandatory care in the form of the contraceptive injection. The woman already has a hormone implant and the fact that she says she wants it removed “does not justify the forced use of contraception.” That would be a last resort, the judge said.