What do you think about this case?
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Anonymous
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This case is called Stump v. Sparkman.
On Friday July 9, 1971 at the DeKalb County Circuit Court in Auburn, Indiana, Ora Spitler McFarlin presented a petition via her attorney Warren G. Sunday to have her 15-year-old daughter, Linda Spitler, undergo a tubal ligation. The petition alleged that Linda was "somewhat retаrded", was associating with "older youth and young men" and that a tubal ligation would be in the daughter's best interest "to prevent unfortunate circumstances." Linda herself was not notified of the petition. Judge Harold Stump signed the order the same day. On Thursday July 15, Linda entered DeKalb Memorial Hospital, just four blocks from her home and was getting ready for surgery the next day. She was told that she will be having her appendix removed, but little did she know she was actually undergoing a tubal ligation performed by Dr. John H. Hines, assisted by Dr. Harry M. Covell, and anesthesiologist Dr. John C. Harvey. In 1973, Linda married Leo Sparkman and tried to get pregnant. After being unable to conceive for 2 years, she consulted a physician and would eventually learn from Dr. Hines that she had been sterilized. This led the Sparkmans to file a suit against Ora McFarlin, her attorney, Judge Stump, the doctors who performed the operation and DeKalb Memorial Hospital. At the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, Linda asserted pendant claims for assault and battery and medical malpractice, while Leo asserted a pendent claim under state law for loss of potential fatherhood. Judge Jesse E. Eschbach dismissed the case, holding that the only state action, which was necessary to the federal claims, was Judge Stump's approval of the petition, but Judge Stump "clothed with absolute judicial immunity", thereby voiding the claims against the other defendants as well. The Sparkmans appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, which reversed the dismissal. The court also found no basis in statutory or common law for a court to order the sterilization of a minor child simply upon a parent's petition. "Even if defendant Stump had not been foreclosed under the Indiana statutory scheme from fashioning a new common law remedy in this case, we would still find his action to be an illegitimate exercise of his common law power because of his failure to comply with elementary principles of procedural due process. Here a juvenile was ordered sterilized without the taking of the slightest steps to ensure that her rights were protected. Not only was the plaintiff not given representation, she was not even told what was happening to her. She was afforded no opportunity to contest the validity of her mother's allegations or to have a higher court examine whether the substance of those allegations, even if true, warranted her sterilization. Finally, the petition and order were never filed in court. This kind of purported justice does not fall within the categories of cases at law or in equity." Judge Stump filed an appeal with the Supreme Court of the United States and in 1978 they ruled that the judge was immune from being sued for issuing the order because it was issued as a judicial function. This was one of the most controversial decisions in Supreme Court history. Linda Sparkman later changed her name to Jamie Renae Coleman and co-authored a 2003 book, "The Blanket She Carried" with her friend Paula Headley. She would ultimately work to pass a state law helped to pass a state law that now protected others from being permanently sterilized without their consent or knowledge. |
Anonymous
| This was over 50 years ago. Different times. You could bring up tons of old cases and ask the same thing. Not too relevant today. |
Anonymous
We’re not too far off of this. I would fully expect to see this case cited in arguments for the sterilization of “illegals” in a second Trump administration, for example. |
Anonymous
| This was not an uncommon event. |
Anonymous
Exactly. The gloves are off. All reproductive rights are under attack. |
Anonymous
| Republicans today will stop at nothing in their quest to control women and our bodies. So, it feels like not a lot has changed since 1971. |
Anonymous
| OP, I think you should do your own research and come to your own conclusions for a school project and not troll for people's opinions here. |
Anonymous
| Linda married at 17. DCUM would freak out over that now. |