Creating Unwanted Children: The Real Cost

We been blogging for a while a No Blood for Hubris about the immoral consequences of increasing the number of unwanted children in America. NBFH has pointed out that we cannot care for the children we already have, that increasing unwantedness leads to increased crime, and that it is the moral responsibility of parents, and of society, to insure that all children are wanted and well-cared for.

Take a look here.

New York Times, Nov. 3--The aunt and cousin of a 7-year-old boy [who died] in 2002 . . .were sentenced to prison yesterday for their roles in one of the state's most horrific child abuse cases."

The cousin had hurled Faheem Williams onto the floor so hard that Faheen died.

Ms. Murphy told prosecutors that she found Faheem, wrapped him in a blanket and left him on a bed for three days before loading his body into a purple storage bin. Several weeks later, she and her children, along with Faheem's twin brother, Raheem, and younger half-brother, Tyrone Hill, moved to a house in Newark, where she placed the bin in a dank area of the basement.

She locked Raheem, now 10, and Tyrone, now 7, in another room in the frigid basement, forcing them to sleep on a filthy mattress and use a bucket as a toilet, prosecutors said. In January 2003, Ms. Murphy's boyfriend found the boys and contacted police.

Faheem, Raheem and Tyrone had been living with Ms. Murphy after their mother, Melinda Williams, went to prison for endangering a child she had been baby-sitting. Ms. Williams was released several weeks before Faheem's death, but was living in New York and had left the children with Ms. Murphy, her sister.

Before sentencing Ms. Murphy, Judge Michael R. Casale said, "People treat pets better than how these kids were treated. Those are conditions no human being should have to suffer through."

Ms. Murphy, convicted of aggravated assault, criminal restraint and child endangerment, did not speak during the sentencing. She looked slightly annoyed at times as the judge spoke, and left without glancing at members of her family seated in the courtroom. . .

Before Mr. Murphy was sentenced on charges of reckless manslaughter, Faheem's mother, Ms. Williams, urged the judge to impose a tougher sentence on him. "He knew what he was doing. He wanted to do it. He feel he don't owe nobody, he don't have to listen to nobody," she said. "He don't have no heart."

But Judge Casale lashed back at Ms. Williams, saying that she was also responsible for her son's death, although she had not been charged with the crime.

"You are not blameless. You are the parent," Judge Casale said. "You could have been charged with murder. What they did was wrong, but you knew what was going on." Ms. Williams, visibly shaken, returned to her seat and said nothing else. . ."

A protective services "caseworker had failed to follow up on a report that the boys were being burned and beaten. The caseworker said that she had been overwhelmed with a workload of more than 100 cases. . .

Ms. Murphy had agreed to the plea deal to avoid having the surviving children testify, but said that Mr. Murphy, who had an extensive juvenile record, had deserved a tougher sentence. Ms. Murphy, she said, "got her due."


It's not enough that children be born, as the pro-birth/anti-post-born hysterics would have us believe. Children have a right to be wanted and well-cared-for.