Judge orders woman to stop having babies.

[minionofmidas]

BTW the article also went on to say that judge  really has no way to enforce the order other than by throwing her in jail for contempt of court if she gets pregnant again. That doesn't seem like an ideal solution either.

Sounds too me like  a very nonsensical ruling, in that case.

Now, taking those kids away from her is something else. That was pretty clearly necessary.

[John Dibble]

This issue is not so clear cut to me. On the one hand the mother should have the right to make her own decisions about childbearing. But on the other hand, with rights come responsibilities and this woman obviously is totally irresponsible. Is it a right for her to keep having drug-addicted babies which she cannot support and which ultimately become wards of the state?

I agree with this statement. This woman isn't just stupid with her rights, but she's abusing them, and this abuse does affect other people - her children. The basic tenet of libertarianism is that you have the right do pretty much whatever you want so long as it doesn't harm other people, but in this case it definitely harms someone.

[David S]

One of the founders once said that our constitution was made for a moral people and that it would be totally inadequate for anything else. This lady would be a good example of "anything else".  In her case forced sterilization sounds like a good idea, but that is incompatible with the kind of free society that we all cherish. It seems like we need some way of dealing with goofs like her without infringing on the rights of responsible people.

[Jake]

Outrageous that the state would take a mother's children from her and even more outrageous that it would deprive her of her reproductive rights to have more children.

How terrible that the judge would look out for her children and prevent her from endangering anymore young lives in the future.  Hopefully the average Libertarian doesn't believe this drivel, because if it does, your party isn't going anywhere.

I hope someone is around to defend you when the state comes and takes  your children away for whatever trivial reason. 

So it is a trivial thing that her children were born with cocaine in their system?