Pendragons Princess

excerpt:

A judge in Travis County has ordered a woman to stop having children as a condition of her probation in her case of injury to a child by omission, an extraordinary measure that legal experts say could be unconstitutional.

The order was for Felicia Salazar, 20, who admitted to failing to provide protection and medical care to her then-19-month-old daughter last year. The girl suffered broken bones and other injuries when she was beaten by her father, Roberto Alvarado, 25, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Alvarado and Salazar relinquished their parental rights, and the child, who has recovered, was placed in foster care.

On Sept. 5, state District Judge Charlie Baird sentenced Salazar, who had no criminal history, to 10 years of probation after she reached a plea bargain with prosecutors. In Texas, judges set conditions of probation. In addition to requiring Salazar to perform 100 hours of community service and to undergo a mental health assessment and setting other typical conditions, Baird told Salazar not to have any more children.

While it is always nice to see a judge not cave in to the politically correct activism that other judges are noted for, this may sound extreme on the surface, even for a 20 year old woman, who supposedly should know better than to ignore the injuries her 19 month old daughter received at the hands of the 25 year old father. Maybe it’s just me (I doubt it though) but it appears that there are one too many twenty-somethings who are making babies but do not have a clue how to raise them. While giving birth is no banner of achievement by itself (some may argue that it is an achievement but only if they are brainless), being a parent does take hard work, a responsibility that very few twenty-somethings are ready to take upon themselves.

Women being forced to not bear any more children, like Salazar has been told by the judge, hardly hurts her. Having children is a responsibility, not a right. As the news article says, “Alvarado and Salazar relinquished their parental rights” when Salazar failed to provide care for the infant. No women ever died from not having children. She will be in jail, but chances are the other jailbirds will “take care” of her much the same way they “take care” of other people who abuse children.