Reply #65: again, I'm not talking about "criminalizing reproduction"

[NorthernSpy]

Criminalizing reproduction is not a legitimate penalty.

We agree that criminalizing reproduction is not legitimate, and the Constitution agrees with us.

But punishing a person for violating his/her child's right to upbringing and nurturing isn't "criminalizing reproduction". We can't directly stop a person from exercising the right to reproduce (although some sanctions, such as imprisonment, will have the effect of temporarily denying a person the opportunity to reproduce), but we can hold people to the responsibilities they create for themselves when they exercise their right to have a child.

I think a legitimate "penalty" would be drug treatment and job training and help for the kids she has.

For willfully depriving her own children of their mother, again and again and again?

Look -- it really has to be up to a court of law to review all of the particulars of the case and make a judgement based on what they find. But I would caution against assuming that this kind of behavior is merely the result of ineptitude and a drug habit. Some people honestly don't give a shit about other people's rights -- even the rights of their own kids -- and all the life-skills training in the world won't change that.