Human sexuality is a battleground of both law and ethics, and it becomes an even more contentious topic when the sex lives of people with disabilities are at stake. Attitudes toward sexual behavior among the disabled appear to have changed remarkably little recently. As one commentator has put it, the “taboos and stigmas ordinarily associated with sexual behavior are inevitably enhanced when juxtaposed with stereotypes about mental disability.”

The potential for discomfort that all parents can face when confronted with the advent of sexual activity on the part of their children is no less present when those children are disabled. In fact, the dependence of some of those children on their parents for support and protection for an entire lifetime can heighten the likelihood of that discomfort and exacerbate parent–child conflicts.

The simultaneous need to respect the autonomy interests of people with disabilities – including their potential for sexual activity and possible parenthood – while not ignoring the very real and often entirely proper paternalism parents and guardians wish to exercise to protect those for whom they care, makes a discussion of contraception or other reproductive issues among this population very complicated. There are very few clear legal and ethical directives that apply to every case. I would like at the outset to assert one principle I do think is clear: people with disabilities have no fewer legal rights and no fewer ethical prerogatives in expressing their sexuality than people without disabilities.