The Supreme Court Sees The Light

Most of us watched with concern, dismay and horror as a drama involving a young woman with a mental handicap played out in the national press this week. The woman - just 19 years old - is a ward of the state and lives in a Nari Niketan in Chandigarh. She was raped by two of the guards working in the institution and she became pregnant.

Thinking they were acting for her benefit, some NGOs in the area brought suit that she should have an abortion and the Chandigarh High Court ordered that it be done, saying she was unable to understand the nature of her situation and would not be able to take care of the child should she bring it to term.

The young woman, however, insisted that she did not want an abortion.

The case finally reached the Supreme Court where emotional and provocative arguments were made on both sides.

Yesterday, the court stayed the Chandigarh decision and ordered that the pregnancy be allowed to continue.

However you may feel about abortion (I am against it) this case brought up all sorts of disturbing and fundamental issues:

1. Does having a mental handicap mean that your right to have children is someone else's decision?
2. What makes a good parent? Is intellectual ability a requirement?
   
3. Who decides?
4. What if, as one of the judges asked, the baby was also handicapped?
   
5. Who should be held responsible for the fact that this woman was raped? The men who did it? The institution which allowed it to happen?

In our organization, a group of us gathered to discuss the case just an hour before the Supreme court decision was handed down. Many interesting points were made and we all felt troubled and challenged by the implications of the case.

One of the most moving statements came from a visiting friend, an educational psychologist, who spoke about a little boy she knew whose parents were both mentally handicapped. But, she said, he was dearly loved, happy and secure. His parents received community support to bring up their child and while he was not likely to be an academic over-achiever, she expected he would grow up to be a good citizen who would hold a job and make his contribution. Should his parents not have been allowed to have him? Should he not have been born at all?

Whose life it it, anyway?

What are your thoughts?