Judges orders woman not to get pregnant

Press, 26 April 1979, Page 9

Judges orders woman not to get pregnant

NZPA Bartow (Florida) Some people just should not have children, said a judge who last week ordered a 28-year-old mother of two not to get pregnant or to marry a man with children while she served 10 years probation for aggravated child abuse.

Kathy York Rodriguez was convicted for severely beating her eight-year-old daughter, Shannon Marie, in the front yard of their home last July in what the police said was an apparent attempt to exorcise a devil.

Judge Oliver Green issued the unusual order last Friday after she was convicted. He said yesterday that he meant every bit of it, and that the terms he spelled out were within the power of the court. The woman also lost custody of her children. Mrs Rodriguez, who could not be contacted for comment, is separated from her husband. Custody of Shannon and a half-brother, who is three, was given to their natural fathers.

Her lawyer, Rick Repolgle, a public defender, said he did not think the judge’s ruling was proper. But he said if he contested it, the judge might change his mind and send her to jail.

“I don’t think the ruling is legal, but what can you do?” he said. “She has probation for something she would have expected to go to prison for, so she should make the best of it.”

Mr Repolgle said he thought the no-pregnancy ruling was improper because it failed to take into account circumstances such as rape, when a woman would not necessarily be in control of getting pregnant.

Judge Green, however, said he saw no reason why Mrs Rodriguez could not avoid pregnancy.

“I think my condition is legal, or I wouldn’t have made it.’’ he said. The court, he added, had the power to impose “certain measures” if patently necessary. If she violates any of the judge’s conditions, the probation could be revoked and she could be sent to jail.

Judge Green said he expected probation officials to enforce his order.

Bill Ruster, supervisor of the Polk Probation Office, said he had not read the judge’s ruling. “I’d want to know the judge’s intent in not letting her get pregnant.” As far as enforcing it, he said: “There’s only so many hours in a day.”