When Massachusetts parents fail to pay child support, they can face many penalties, including wage garnishments, intercepted tax refunds, revocation of professional licenses and even jail time in extreme cases. But can a person be banned from having more children until the bill is paid? This may sound extreme, but that is what one judge ordered a man who owes $100,000 in child support.
The Ohio appeals court agreed with the judge’s order, stating that since the man has refused to work and support his children, the ban must be put in place. The order bans the man from fathering any more children for the next five years or until his child support bill is paid in full for the four children he already has.
If the man fails to abide by the order, he faces one year in jail. The order is being deemed unconstitutional, since the only sure way a person can refrain from creating children is abstinence. Opponents claim that forcing a person to not have sex is intruding on his or her rights.
Although this is an unconventional form of child support enforcement, could it actually work? It seems logical, considering that there is no valid reason why a man would want to continue fathering children if he cannot support the ones he already has. In addition, the ban is not saying that the man cannot have sex. Although nothing is 100 percent effective besides abstinence, there are highly effective forms of birth control that a man can use, such as condoms or even a vasectomy if he doesn’t want to have any more children. Sometimes the court system has to come up with new ideas to encourage parents to support their children when all else fails.
Source: The Raw Story, “Ohio court upholds judge’s order barring deadbeat dad from fathering more kids” Scott Kaufman, May. 14, 2014
Subscribe To This Blog’s Feed