Rotterdam Municipal Council has submitted a draft bill aimed at making contraception mandatory “for mothers deemed to be incompetent”. The reasoning behind the bill is as follows: “To grow up in a safe and healthy environment is more of a basic right than the right to have children”.
Based on this proposal, “a judge would be responsible for deciding whether the person concerned could be obliged to use a method of contraception, which is already the case for women receiving compulsory psychiatric medication”. The women would therefore be “obliged to use an IUD or contraceptive implant”.
The measure would affect between ten and twenty women each year, “women with psychiatric or dependency problems, with mental health or other deficiencies, homeless women or those involved in prostitution”.
The proposal has shocked some members of the municipal council who commented as follows: “It is frightening to think that a law could dictate pregnancies”.
Belga (2/10/2016)