IVF for a terrorist

An Eta terrorist, jailed for 13 years, has been released to receive IVF treatment, which is being paid for by the Spanish State. The Association of Victims of Terrorism (AVT) has filed a formal complaint with the court, which has allowed Elena Beloki (pictured above, right) to remain out of jail on conditional bail after treatment.

Prosecutors maintained she could have received treatment while still in jail, yet to me the more basic question is the issue of the government funding fertility treatments for convicted criminals. By committing an act that is judged to be a crime in a court of law (Beloki was a spokeswoman for Xaki, the international arm of the banned Eta group), you give up your right to walk free in society. Your basic liberties are curtailed. Yet is IVF an inalienable right?

Certainly the state cannot stop natural pregnancy occurring - or at the least, sterilisation is no longer an acceptable practice. Yet does that translate into a prisoner's "right" to receive treatment if she can't conceive naturally? And does this extend to men - if a male prisoner can't naturally father a child, is he entitled to using all that modern medicine affords to become a dad?

Beloki was released in June, claiming that this treatment was her last chance to become pregnant. Her boyfriend is Juan Maria Olano, a jailed leader of Euskal Herritarrok, a banend group linked to Eta.

In 2003 a European court rejected an appeal by a British murderer to allow his wife to have artificial insemination while he remained in jail. In Beloki's case one wonders if the move to release her had more to do with the politics related to Eta than to the Spanish court's philosophies on the right to have a baby.

What do you think?

Comments

[LM]

I think this caving in to a criminal is complete BS. In the US, if you've been incarcerated for a felony, you're not eligible to vote; I don't know if this applies to Europe or not too, but it seems a reasonable punishment to me. Enforced celibacy/lack of opportunity to procreate is an equally reasonable punishment.

[mumoftwo]

Two hours once a month? I don't get that much alone time with my husband in the comfort of my own home...(due to the bat-like ears of our children who rush in if we remotely sound like we might be enjoying ourselves without them).

I'm thinking of the child though, whilst you might be able to have a baby in a prisoner/baby unit, what about an older child? Surely they will just be parted from their mother, how traumatic.

[nicky]

Really? Thanks for answering that, by the way. Are inmates in Britain allowed these 'conjugal visits', or whatever they're called, as well?

Well, you live and learn, don't you.I'm amazed.

[Miss GA]

Nicky - of course inmates (male and females) are allowed sex in prisons. It usually involves a 2 hour visit once a month for one to do as "one wishes"!

How do you think so many woman with partners in prison manage to get pregnant?!

[weevil]

at 49,if she is 49, she would need donor eggs for sure to acheive pregnancy, many clinics will only treat up to age 50/51 menopause age
wonder if the donor would agree if they knew?

[lolobstersquad]

oh, please. This whole IVF thing is just one more episode of the ridiculous grovelling our judges do before ETA. It´s not about human rights or anything else. She´s 49, anyway, so you´d think she´s had time enough to think her options through.

[Reggie von Zugbach]

I terrorists were hanged this would not be a problem.

[Guess Who]

That woman is so unattractive forget that she is a criminal it should be a crime for her to produce a baby with that face.

[Ana]

This may surprise many, but prisoners in Spain ARE allowed to have sex whilst in jail. They have a so-called "vis-a-vis" session, I think every two weeks with total intimacy, nobody watching etc. I can remember at least one other ETA prisoner who got pregnant this way.

[Rachel]

This convict is receiving IVF against the law and the regulations. No normal Basque woman is offered IVF free of charge over 40 years of age. She is entitled to "tête à têtes" whilst in prison, but it so happens that her lovey-dovey is another bloodthirsty terrorist currently jailed. Yet somehow she walks free, claiming the right to receive expensive treatment not offered others. This can only be understood as part of the back-dealings the Spanish government are involved in with ETA. By the way, Jesús Eguiguren, the Socialist Party's negotiator in its talks with ETA still holds an important position within his party and commands respect and admiration from his colleagues, male and female, despite being a convicted wife-batterer. Welcome to topsy-turvy Spain.

For the record, I believe that any criminal forfeits his rights when he commits a crime. If she wanted to have a baby she ought to have led a normal life and let others live normal lives instead of trying to impose her ideals via terror and bloodshed.

[janet]

we know how much nulabour has given in to the ira, ivf? i would inseminiate with dynamite.

[whimsey]

GSJ - I got the impression, perhaps erroneously, that she was going for IVF only because she is not allowed, being a prisoner, to have real sex with a man. Not because she is subfertile.

[GSJ]

If you are not going to let criminals have IVF then you should also prevent them from conceiving naturally. Otherwise, you should let them do either. Why, in so many ways, is there one rule for fertile people and another (always less favourable) for those who are unlucky enough to have fertility problems?

[A Thorn]

That one does. What a pig! I'm sure most men would only touch her if she was pointing an AK-47 at them!

[lionel]

Just another sign of how weak we've become. This whole 'human rights' thing has become a damn farce. And the victims? This witch is laughing all the way to the sperm bank. Gentetics: the apple does not fall far from the tree!

[whimsey]

Perhaps the authorities think that becoming a mother might make the woman more respectful of human life.....????

Who would want a woman like that for a mother, someone prepared to support an organisation that kills and murders? Not exactly a mother to be proud of, is she?

[Louise]

I cannot believe what I'm reading! What's happened to this world when the perpetrator has more human rights than the victim? Having a child is not a right but a privilege and one she should not be afforded.

[KM]

Having worked with mothers in prison, I am very sceptical that it is a good idea to produce more of them.

She won't be able to keep the baby with her longterm, so it will be a very cruel separation (for both of them) at some point.

Unless she is about to be released, this should have been stopped under the name of child cruelty.

[whimsey]

Any political organisation, in a democratic country, which advocates, endorses and practises violence (assassination, murder, bombings) to promote and achieve its ends, whatever those ends are, is and should be illegal, and anyone who supports, funds or belongs to them should be prosecuted. There is ample democratic mechanism available to lobby for your ends peaceably, and no justification whatsoever to recourse to violence. If the Spanish government refuses to permit a referendum on Basque independence, Basque separatists and their sympathisers (and I might well be one, since I see no justification for a country holding on to any territory that no longer wishes to be part of that country - ie, the principle of self-determination), then you go on, and on, and on lobbying peacefully, through all means - forming political parties, gathering votes, organisating publicity, etc etc, the usual methods that all political parties and particularist interest groups use - until you get the referendum. You do NOT attempt to get your own way by killing people, or supporting those who do the killing in any way at all.

Sinn Fein has all the blood of the IRA on its hands if and as it has supported their murderous actions (and ditto for any political groups that supported Protestant violence and murder). No excuse for them either - and snivelling cowardice on the part of the British government for doing deals with them.

Also, the point made about who would actually raise this woman's child is spot on.

The whole thing is a complete disgrace and I cannot imagine how it has even got this far.

[David]

Well, i'm sure there is one person in Spain who has been refused free IVF treatment for some reason. They should re consider other cases than wasting the money on person in prison who supports criminal organisation. Very scary!

[Kitta]

For me the issue would be more what happens to the baby???
I’m assuming that she still has a while to run on her sentence, because why else is the IVF ‘needed’ now rather than waiting till she’s done her time?

So what happens to this poor child?
In effect she’s going to have a pregnancy rather than a baby, I assume that she will be allowed ( if the treatment works) to have the baby with her for a while, but what happens then?

Selfish on every level IMHO.

[rexreddy]

My friend Ronald Strong was killed by an ETA terrorist.
He had a wife who had a baby.
Ron is not here to support that child.
Should we give money to the terrorist so she can make more terrorists?
How about you make her work to support the children who have been left fatherless by her actions?

Ron didn’t even know what the ETA was. His child will.

[Marisa]

She is a convicted criminal receiving treatment funded by the Spanish government (which btw she does not even recognise), how FALSE is this? They want independence but please, fund us for everything!! Would another criminal convicted of drug dealing be given the chance of receiving fertility treatment? I doubt it. It is positive discrimination by a very weak government that is making things worst for ALL Spanish. I am praying that the treatment fails, no need to bring more sadness to this world...

[Marie]

A bit of a tricky one this...I guess if we stop terrorists from getting any medication or health checks ..we're nearly as bad as them ...I don't know ...I guess I'm just to nice lol

[Josef]

She should never be allowed to get out of prison for fertility treatment. The spanish penal system is rather soft with all these delincuents.
ETA is a terrorist group that will assassin anybody for the sake of their political objectives. This woman was a member of a group that support ETA. There are several of these groups that in court were found guilty of supporting ETA in different ways: financially, recruitment, propaganda. All form a web of intimidation to subjugate the general population in the Basque Country to their political objectives.
There is democracy in Spain. You may seek independence of your "motherland" if you wish as far as you do through peaceful and democratic means. They cannot achieve this, so violence is the next step. The excuses are meaningless although a lot of foreigners are always ready to hear stories of oppression. They could ask the 250000 basques that have left their beautiful country only for political reasons scared by these terrorists liberators and their friends.
When the dictator Franco died, within few years all the ETA terrorist that were in jail at that time were released. All of them (included murderers). The Spanish goverment were expecting they would participate in the new democracy with their own political objectives, even independency. They returned to even fiercer terrorism. One of these "liberators" is this woman. She may not carry a gun but she supports in all ways the gunners. Why should the spanish taxpayer have to fund her fertility treatment?