Retarded Woman’s Sterilization Granted After Four Pregnancies

A mentally impaired woman who has been pregnant four times in two years was granted her request Wednesday to be sterilized to avoid future pregnancies.

The woman, who is nine months’ pregnant, will be sterilized after she gives birth by Cesarean section to her second child today or Friday, said Erie County Surrogate Court Judge Joseph Mattina.

His decision came after two attorneys appointed by the court to look after the woman’s interests gave up their challenge to the sterilization.

The 22-year-old woman and her parents had asked for the sterilization, and Mattina approved it Friday. But attorneys Herbert Siegel and Brian Welsh appealed the decision to the Appellate Division of New York Supreme Court, which put the sterilization on hold Tuesday and ordered Mattina to review the case further.

Siegel said testimony from several doctors and mental health experts at a hearing Wednesday convinced him and Welsh that sterilization is in the woman’s best interests.

The woman, whose name was not released, has an IQ of about 65. She has been unable to control her sexual behavior and sterilization is the only way to prevent her from getting pregnant, said Susan Gray, an attorney for the woman and her family.

Cynthia Barnowski, a mental health expert who has interviewed the woman, said she lacks the judgment to raise a child and has psychological and behavioral problems that could make her a threat to children.

The woman plans to give her baby up for adoption. She has a 14-month-old son being cared for by her mother. Her other two pregnancies ended in miscarriages.