Blog 2 - Ashley

If Ashley had been completely mentally healthy and her parents decided against her will to go through with the treatment, then Ashley’s rights would have been violated, no question. But because Ashley has the mental capacity of a three month old and is incapable (from what I understand) of speaking, thinking, etc., she is under complete control of her parents, and they chose to go through with this treatment to IMPROVE Ashley’s life, therefor I don’t think her rights were violated. Ashley’s parents want to freeze their daughter in time and essentially keep her as a child forever, so that 1. her mental and physical ages are closer together and 2. so that they can care for her more easily. From what I understand, Ashley’s condition will never improve over time, period. So stunting her growth can only be seen as beneficial to me because it almost ensures that she will be well taken care of by her parents and by caregivers after her parents pass away. As for the removal of Ashley’s uterus and breast buds…it gets a little dicey. I don’t personally see the benefit of going through all that trouble just to avoid POSSIBLE menstrual discomfort and POSSIBLE breast discomfort. One of the parents’ reasons for removing her breast buds was that she would have had large breasts and that “’could sexualize Ashley towards her caregiver, especially when they are touched while she is being moved or handled, inviting the possibility of abuse.’” Seriously? I think instead of pulling these arguments out of their asses, the parents should have just stated that they felt it would be best for Ashley to keep her prepubescent body and kept it at that. But the bottom line is, the parents thought this treatment would benefit their daughter who cannot speak for herself, and I have to respect their decision.