Florida Keeps Prosecuting Consenting Adults

It's not a crime to give birth to a child with health problems, but it is treated like a crime when genetic tests reveal that the child's parents are relatives who are "too" close. Here's an article from dailycommercial.com about such a case...

A Groveland woman was arrested for having an incestuous relationship with her brother after she gave birth to a child with serious medical problems.

Notice she was arrested for consensual (to be redundant) sex.

According to an arrest affidavit, Pauline Elizabeth Martin, 33, gave birth on Nov. 21, and doctors quickly transferred the baby to Winnie Palmer Hospital for Children in Orlando because it needed specialized care.

That's too bad. It's interesting that the article doesn't specify the details of the specialized care.

Hospital officials called the Florida Department of Children and Families to investigate because genetic testing revealed the baby’s parents were close relatives.

Medical privacy only goes so far.

Lake County Sheriff’s detectives interviewed Martin at her workplace, a fast food restaurant in Leesburg, on Thursday, and she reportedly admitted being in a sexual relationship with her brother for the past five years.

That shouldn't be a crime. Unfortunately, it still is in 47 states, including Florida. She should have invoked her right to remain silent.

Detectives arrested Martin and charged her with incest and resisting law enforcement without violence.

So they go to arrest her for loving her brother and she didn't willingly leave? How about leaving her alone???

Sgt. Fred Jones with the Lake County Sheriff’s Office said detectives hope to speak with the brother as well but have been unable to reach him.

I'm sure they do. If he's protecting himself he's no longer in Florida. The article doesn't provide his age (we're assuming he's been of age for at least the last 5-6 years), nor if these siblings were raised together or are a reunion case. Fortunately, most sibling lovers are never ratted out to law enforcement.

The article doesn't bother to say (because the authorities likely didn't bother to say) if the medical problems of the baby were caused by shared genetics. It's intended for the reader to just assume they were, even though children with severe medical problems are born to unrelated parents every day, and most children born to close relatives are healthy.

While it might not ultimately matter, the official situation in the US is that we have the right to remain silent and she should have used her right and not admitted to "incest." Also, we're supposedly "innocent until proven guilty." The fact is, women can get pregnant through assault or artificial insemination (which itself might be illegal depending on the state, at least between close relatives), or by unintentionally touching semen and then inserting her finger into herself. It's supposed to be up to prosecutors to prove she had intercourse with her brother. The mere existence of a child may be enough to convince a jury, but it shouldn't be.

Babies can be born with medical issues for many reasons in addition to having parents with shared "bad" genes, including, but not limited to, environment, diet, illness, medications, and injuries. Rather than criminalizing and otherwise discriminating against consenting adults for loving each other, we should be encouraging genetic counseling and prenatal care. There's no good reason to keep denying consenting adults their rights.