News
Featured Image

UNITED KINGDOM, April 23, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – A judge in England has ruled that a woman reported to have learning disabilities will be fitted with a contraceptive device against her will. 

Representatives of Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust told Justice Gwynneth Knowles that the woman – who is in her late twenties and is currently pregnant – has already given birth multiple times and has had those children removed from her custody.   

They also explained that she suffers from medical conditions and suggested that future pregnancies could put her health at risk.    

“It's my body and it's my life,” the woman told the judge, according to several sources, including The Mirror, Metro, and BBC.

“I should have the choice on what I want,” she added.  

“Where is the outrage over this?” wondered Twitter user Tami Hollingsworth.  “If you can do this to a woman, why can't you do this to a rapist?” 

The unnamed woman had said she would consent to quarterly contraceptive injections but did not want to be fitted with the proposed device. However, doctors told the court they feared she would fail to show up for her appointments every three months, thereby putting her at risk for pregnancy.     

As a Court of Protection jurist, Justice Knowles is tasked with reviewing cases concerning people who may lack the capacity to make decisions for themselves.

The BBC reported that in her written ruling, Knowles decided that inserting a contraceptive device was in the woman's best interest, and decided it should be fitted during her planned Caesarean section operation.

The hearing was held via Skype due to lockdown restrictions.  

Forced abortion is on the rise in the U.K. In October 2019, a judge ordered a disabled woman be forced to have an abortion and doctors could restrain her while committing it.

“This is an outrage which should shock every right-thinking person,” John Deighan, Deputy Chief Executive of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, said at the time. “It is a level of cruelty and barbarity reminiscent of how people with mental health issues were treated in the 1930s of Nazi Germany. To force abortion on any person is abhorrent and to do so in the name of medicine calls into question the structures of law and justice in our society.”

In February 2020, a judge ordered another forced abortion on a vulnerable woman who had been raped by her carer. 

Also in 2019, another disabled woman narrowly escaped a forced abortion after massive public outcry.