Abstract
In Raising a Woman, I Mary was fourteen when she had an operation that would forever deprive her of the ability to bear a child. In facing this 'surgery, she had no choice in the matter, no option to say no, and no advocate asking what she wanted. She was alone and left without a voice because her physician, and even her own mother, had taken her choice away. When Mary received a hysterectomy, her mother's needs were addressed the monthly anguish in caring for her daughter's menstruation was eliminated, thereby diminishing the extremely difficult turn that her life had taken in raising a daughter with Cerebral Palsy. But. Mary was left empty. It was not a medical necessity, nor would it serve to benefit Mary directly. Instead, the surgery would benefit those that aided Mary in her daily activities. Nonetheless, it was Mary who paid the price for this moment. Alone, without a voice, and choiceless in a doctor's treatment or mother's care, Mary forever lost her ability to bear a child, the weight of which fundamentally effects her to this day, decades later.
Recommended Citation
Hawkes, Danielle
(2009)
"Elective Surgery-When Parental and Medical Opinion Supersedes a Child's Right to Choose,"
Utah Law Review: Vol. 2009:
No.
2, Article 33.
Available at:
https://dc.law.utah.edu/ulr/vol2009/iss2/33