Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, November 13, 1994 TAG: 9411150035
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: PHILADELPHIA LENGTH: Short
Justice David Souter, without comment, declined the request from Lorrie McKinley, legal guardian for Cindy Wasiek, 26, who has the mental capacity of a 5-year-old.
McKinley made the emergency appeal Friday after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court refused to block the operation while the case was appealed.
Without the stay, Cindy's mother, Delores Wasiek, is free to schedule the sterilization. She has sought the procedure since 1987.
Delores Wasiek says her daughter - mute, severely brain-damaged and subject to seizures - is vulnerable to assault because she doesn't understand the consequences of her affectionate behavior.
Wasiek sought to have her daughter's fallopian tubes tied after finding her in compromising situations with men at a group home.
McKinley has argued the operation is unnecessary and would set back the rights of retarded people to maintain control of their lives.
A 1990 ruling granting permission for the operation was upheld, overturned and reinstated in appeals. The state Supreme Court refused to hear the case Aug. 19. McKinley said she plans to appeal to the full U.S. Supreme Court this week.
by CNB