No

by Rachelle Lang

Created on: November 09, 2010

Imagine being the eldest of 10 children born to a promiscuous mother, bearing the battle wounds of scars, bruises, and welts placed there by adults that frequent your house; cursed out by many, sexually abused by some.  You, barely escaping the ill fate of most of your siblings who were born cocaine exposed, with AIDS, or perhaps with both.  Imagine living in an existence where you had no control, where fear is relative and the feel of an extension cord tearing the skin from your back is normal.  Imagine having those that frequent your home, also frequent your bed room, zipping up their sins leaving you alone and desolate after dripping with the disgusting scent of their rape.  Now imagine escaping that reality only to be bounced from home to home like a used car that won’t sell.  Unfortunately these are the gruesome realities of some of our children in our foster care system.  Parents, many times have child after child subjected to egregious abuse.  Those children end up mentally ill, lost, runaways, or in the criminal justice system.  These parents should not be allowed to continue on in their pursuit to procreate. They need not continue the cycle of abuse.

I have worked as a clerk in the dependency court system for 8 years.  I've heard some of the vilest cases during my employment at the Juvenile Court house.  Children do not deserve to be born into a world that is going to neglect them.  Although procreation is a natural process, it should be done in a responsible manner.  Most of the children that are born to the parent's in question, were not born to people who were actively thinking of exercising some right, but due to gross negligence.  It doesn't make since for two people to be completely careless in their sexual escapades and bring forth children.

These babies, our greatest casualties, are born to parents whose rights are more important than their own life.  The human rights activists fight for the right to choose no matter what the cost.  It seems as if they care more about the right than they do the people with whose rights are in question.  A stay at home mother of two, S.L. (Initials are used to protect the source), paralleled court ordered birth control to abortion, “It is not pro-life, it is pro-choice”.  Most who take a stand in the issue of pro-choice argue for a woman to have the right to choose to do as she wishes with her body in regards to aborting a fetus.  S.L. used the pro-choice argument to state that a woman should have the right to choose to do as she sees fit with her body no matter what the circumstances may be.  She further proclaimed, “The government has no right to tell a woman what to do with her body”.  From the pro-choice point of view, it seems as if a parent has the right to: burden the taxpayers with their unwanted children, abuse their babies; and ingest cocaine into their child’s system.  H. P., a full case management supervisor, at the Miami-Dade Juvenile court house stated "Court imposed birth control should be considered as a choice against pregnancy, because it is reversible”.  Consider the case of Lamar, whose name has been changed for the use of this debate.  Lamar was the 8th out of eleven children.  He was born 2 months premature, and remained in an incubator for the first 6 months of his life.  The constant monitoring of the doctors never ceased even today, Lamar, now 12 cannot go a day without going into massive seizures due to his mother being on cocaine when she was carrying him.  Lamar doesn’t go to school with normal children for fear of his violent outbreaks.  He lashes out verbally and physically.  Safety precautions have to be followed constantly in the home for it is even unsafe to have his three year old sister near him, he hits her, too.  Lamar strikes out on those he loves, neighbors, other children, none escape Lamar’s wrath.  He feels justified.  At the age of 11 he was baker acted over 13 times.  His 12th birthday was no exception.  Off he went, into the back of an ambulance yet again.  Lamar’s mother lost the rights to 6 of her children prior to his conception.  Lamar is an example of an innocent child brought unnecessarily into this world.  He now has to deal with emotional scars for a lifetime; he has already begun to repeat the same cycle.  (Anonymous)  “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.” ((UHCHR Article 1)

We as a society need to stop allowing children to be born into this world who are doomed to fail; doomed to live in an existence that does not allow them to be the fittest; doomed to live with the memory of someone abusing and neglecting them; doomed to the fate that they too may end up repeating the same cycle that they grew up in; doomed to the jail systems; doomed to a life of poverty, homelessness, and hopelessness.  This drains our pockets as a society as a whole, and all should be outraged.  A public cry should go up, stating no more will these heartless abusers have the right to hurt another child, and no longer will these parents have a right to drain our tax budgets. It is time to hold them accountable, to contribute to society, and no longer shall they be allowed to stay home with their legs spread wide getting pregnant yet again.  It is time that we as a society put an end to the abuse of children, the abuse of the system, the abuse of welfare, and the abuse of the taxpayers.  It is time for us to stand united as a whole and cry 'we will no longer allow an abuser’s rights to trump that of a child nor that of our own.'

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