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Vasectomies for reduced sentences?

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Earlier this year, a county judge in Tennessee raised eyebrows by issuing a standing order, offering inmates in the county jail a 30 day reduction in sentence if they volunteered to get a vasectomy or a Nexplanon implant (a form of birth control that lasts roughly three years).

General Sessions Judge Sam Benningfield defended the move as a way of encouraging inmates to make responsible choices about reproduction, hopefully reducing the number of children born addicted to drugs or who end up in foster care.

“Unplanned and unwanted children and the resulting obligations complicate their lives and make their reintegration into society more difficult.”

- Judge Sam Benningfield

In a statement, Benningfield also argued that the procedures are reversible, though this is debatable. The Nexplanon implant can be removed, but vasectomies can be only be surgically reversed some of the time.

Since May, 24 women and 38 men have reportedly accepted the offer. However, there are questions as to whether the policy will be carried out, as both the White County Health Department and the Tennessee Department of Health have said that while they do offer voluntary family planning services to inmates, they do not condone Benningfield’s policy.

There is no move to implement a similar policy at any New Hampshire court.

Opponents of the move included the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee, which called it coercive and unconstitutional.

“Though the judge’s program is technically ‘voluntary,’ spending even a few days in jail can lead to the loss of jobs, child custody, housing and vehicles. To the individual faced with these collateral consequences of time spent behind bars, an offer of a reduced jail sentence can be extremely difficult to refuse.”

- ACLU of Tennessee

The White County, Tennessee district attorney, Bryant Dunaway, also expressed disapproval of the policy. “It’s comprehensible that an 18-year-old gets this done, it can’t get reversed and then that impacts the rest of their life,” he said.

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