Should I Sterilize my Autistic Son?

"Should I sterilize my Autistic son when he is about 18?  My husband and I will probably be his legal guardians and we want to save a girl that he might have sex with (and her family) from the possibility of a child or worse the abortion of a child."

This question was recently asked of me by good Catholics struggling with the overwhelming prospect of raising their child.  

This couple is not evil.  They are trying to do what is best; they are struggling with doing what is right and are seeking out the truth.  It is common today to put children with Developmental Disabilities on birth control, to sterilize or to give medication early on in their life to prevent them from fully maturing sexually.  The question they are asking is, Is this right?

Sterilization would be a "simple" solution to a complex problem.  It would also buy into Eugenics -- the study of, or belief in, the possibility of improving the qualities of the human species or a human population by such means as discouraging reproduction by persons having genetic defects or presumed to have inheritable undesirable traits (negative eugenics) or encouraging reproduction by persons presumed to have inheritable desirable traits (positive eugenics).--, which was why Margey Sanger founded Planned Parenthood and was at the core of many of Adolf Hitler's theories.  Sanger  advocated the use of birth control to bring about Eugenics here in the USA and eventually abroad.  Hitler advocated sterilization as a means to his Arlan race.

In the 1930's when Eugenics was rampant in the United States as a philosophy of thought a movie came out that looked at the evil of forced sterilization.  The movie Tomorrow's Children came out in 19 34 and  was about a young woman who wishes to marry her boyfriend and raise a family, but because her own family has been deemed “defective” by the state health authorities–her parents are lazy alcoholics who continue to have children, and several of her brothers and sisters have mental problems–she is ordered by a court to undergo sterilization so that her family’s “defective genes” won’t be passed on to any more children. Her boyfriend and a kindly priest desperately search for a way to stop the forced sterilization before it’s too late.  The movie is available on YouTube through the links posted here.                                                                             Tomorrow's Children Part 1    Part 2       Part 3   Part 4   Part 5   Part 6        

When we force sterilize a segment of our population we create a society where those "unsuited" to preo-create are not allowed to procreate.  It is done with a goal to creates a society avoid of illness, disease, disability, disfigurement, etc... ; however, sterilization though masking itself as a good is really an abomination against God.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says:

"except when performed for strictly therapeutic medical reasons, directly intended amputations, mutilations, and sterilizations performed on innocent persons are against the moral law."   

"Purifying" society or making my life or the life of someone else easier is not "strictly theraputic."  Yes, it could be more difficult if this adult with Autism fathered a child but committing a sin to prevent this is not a justifiable answer.  We cannot sin in order to prevent future sin. This applies even if we are trying to protect someone else from sinning. You don't know that the baby would be killed by abortion. If a baby were to occur somehow, at some point, it would have the same rights to life as any other baby. Who knows, it might be the way God brings another great saint into the world? If they would not be capable of raising them, there is always the possibility of the girl raising them or adoption.

Then what can we do?

The best we can do is to educate our special needs child to the best of our ability.  We need to be able to discuss with him/her sexuality to the ability they can comprehend.  We need to ensure that they know their body is a sacred vessel not to be touched or compromised.  We need to teach over and over that sexual intimacy is only for marriage.  If we are their guardians through adulthood we need to try to prevent situations where sexual activity may arise.  Also, if they father a child or become pregnant we need to be the VOICE for LIFE even offering to raise the child.

Good intended people are sterilizing children/adults with disabilities.  They are passing out condoms and birth control and doing all they can to prevent procreation.  They do not see the sanctity of sexual intimacy.  They only see the potential "harms" if these children procreate.  They are not bad people, just misinformed.  Let us pray that they see why forced sterilization, birth control, etc... are morally wrong.  Let us pray that they understand we cannot sin to prevent future sin. Let us all work towards better education without sin.