On Wednesday, for the first time in years, Britney Spears told her story in a court of law. In a heartfelt plea to the court, Spears begged to be released from the conservatorship she was placed under in 2008. The details of her conservatorship will shock most Americans who don’t know that a judge can order every detail of a person’s life and take away every liberty, including bodily autonomy. One of the most shocking revelations was that Spears was forcibly implanted with an IUD birth control device and she isn’t allowed to remove it, or have another baby, or even get married.
I want to be able to get married and have a baby. I was told right now in the conservatorship, I’m not able to get married or have a baby, I have [an IUD] inside of myself right now so I don’t get pregnant. I wanted to take the [IUD] out so I could start trying to have another baby. But this so-called team won’t let me go to the doctor to take it out because they don’t want me to have children – any more children.
One wonders how the “my body, my choice” crowd will see this development. Can a judge order someone to be sterile? I thought we stopped forcible sterilization in the 1960s. It’s especially upsetting when you consider the fact that if Spears does have a mental illness, she’s an American with a disability and she has rights. It’s not illegal for someone with a disability to have children. Our family courts discriminate regularly against parents like Spears who suffer from depression or other issues, and they do it against the law with no accountability or oversight.
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Spears says she has been treated similarly to a sex-trafficked slave, including being forcibly medicated.
Making anyone work against their will, taking all their possessions away — credit card, cash, phone, passport — and placing them in a home where they work with the people who live with them. They all lived in the house with me, the nurses, the 24-7 security. There was one chef that came there and cooked for me daily during the weekdays. They watched me change every day — naked – morning, noon, and night. My body – I had no privacy door for my room.
You can hear her whole testimony below. At some point, the court is going to have to admit that if Spears is not a danger to herself or others, she should be allowed the freedom to make her own choices, even if those choices aren’t acceptable to her family or if she loses her wealth.
Others have lost their wealth without getting incarcerated against their will. We’ve been watching the train wreck that is Miley Cyrus doing drugs onstage for years and no one has incarcerated her or the multitude of other stars who live dangerously or spend foolishly. This case appears to be about protecting Spears’ estate in the interest of her father and not for the woman who appears to be capable of working, making a living, and loving her children while hiring someone of her choice to do the books.
The Spears conservatorship story is a great jumping-off point for the country to understand what is really happening under this criminal system. Spears should actually consider herself lucky that she isn’t wasting away in a neglectful nursing home like thousands of others suffering under the cabal of conservators and “guardians.” ABC 10 in California did an amazing multi-part series on the horrific abuses suffered by victims of conservatorship, and their stories are so much worse than the singer’s.
Last week on The Fringe podcast, I interviewed Tina Brockovich, an almost-victim-turned-private eye who uncovered hundreds of victims in Michigan and testified in front of the state senate about the scandalous abuse. This week, I spoke to Gretchen Hammond, an investigative journalist who was instrumental in finding over 2,000 victims in Michigan of this same scheme. That podcast will be available on VIP, so sign up today to hear that incredible interview.
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This issue is deep and systemic, and I hope when Spears gets out of this (and I think she will) that she will go to bat for the thousands of families who are being robbed blind and whose mothers and fathers are getting neglected and abused. Unfortunately, no one cares because they’re not famous. Please educate yourself on the horrific reality of conservatorship and guardian abuse. Instead of binging Netflix shows tonight, binge this ABC series and then support these people whose lives have been ruined and whose rights have been terminated by the greed of a corrupt judiciary and predatory lawyers.
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