An Oklahoma judge has come up with an innovative yet controversial way to deal with a woman’s criminality and drug problems and in return, offer her a reduced sentence if she would agree to a procedure to render her incapable of giving birth to any more children.
U.S. District Judge Stephen Friot ruled for leniency in the case of 34-year-old habitual criminal and drug abuser Summer Thyme Creel who consented to sterilization in exchange for a lighter sentence.
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The judge’s rationale was that Ms. Creel did not have a “constitutional right to bring crack- or methamphetamine-addicted babies into this world” which she will no longer be capable of doing after the procedure.
She had already given birth to seven children of which she forfeited custody of six and had likely used illegal drugs during her many pregnancies.
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Oklahoma woman gets shorter prison sentence because she got sterilized https://t.co/XqpUTPQLUO pic.twitter.com/Ntv6u0SMSI
— TheOklahoman (@TheOklahoman) February 9, 2018
The Oklahoman reports “Oklahoma woman gets shorter prison sentence because she got sterilized”:
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A judge Thursday showed leniency to a drug-using mother of seven because she had surgery to prevent further pregnancies.
Summer Thyme Creel, 34, was sentenced to a year in federal prison and three years on supervised release for passing counterfeit checks.
She was ordered to pay $15,246 in restitution.
Creel voluntarily underwent the medical procedure in November after the Oklahoma City federal judge suggested it in a scheduling order.
“She will receive a shorter sentence because she made that decision,” U.S. District Judge Stephen Friot said before announcing the punishment.
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Friot on Thursday also defended his sterilization suggestion, saying the U.S. Supreme Court “has yet to recognize a constitutional right to bring crack- or methamphetamine-addicted babies into this world.”
In his order last June, the judge called Creel a habitual user of crack cocaine and methamphetamine. He wrote in that order she had given up her parental rights to six of her seven children and likely had used illegal drugs while pregnant.
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He then wrote he would consider at sentencing medical evidence Creel had undergone a sterilization procedure “if (and only if) she chooses to do so.”
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Creel had faced up to 16 months in federal prison under sentencing guidelines intended to keep punishments uniform across the country. Judges do not have to follow the guidelines, though, and the maximum possible punishment for Creel’s offense was 10 years in prison.
The unusual order — first reported by The Oklahoman — attracted national and international attention. The judge has been both praised and condemned.
“When I read the order, I was horrified,” Lynn Paltrow, founder of the National Advocates for Pregnant Women, told The Washington Post. “We find it highly unlikely that this judge has asked any man how many children he fathered and used that in his sentencing determination.”
Judge Friot emphasized that the decision to undergo the procedure Creel’s to make.
Creel was ultimately sentenced to 12 months in prison where she will hopefully be able to get some treatment and help with her addiction although as with any repeat offender, the old saying that “a leopard is unable to change its spots” is fully applicable.
The positive contribution to society is that she agreed to be sterilized and while the idea has set off howls of indignation and protests from usual suspects about Judge Friot embracing eugenics, the hypocritical left seems to have a double standard on that practice considering that is exactly what Planned Parenthood engages in.
In fact, the founder of Planned Parenthood Margaret Sanger was once a member of the American Eugenics Society which is a very inconvenient truth that the left is unable to escape.
There will inevitably be efforts by feminist organizations to push cases on whether this uncommon ruling is indeed constitutional with the ultimate goal of getting it into the Supreme Court. For now, it remains to be seen if the reduced sentence and some much-needed counseling will be able to salvage what remains of Ms. Creel’s life.
