A court in Ohio has banned a father of four from having any more children until he pays thousands of dollars in owed child support, The Chronicle-Telegram reported.
The 9th District Court of Appeals banned 35-year-old Asim Taylor from having anymore offspring until he pays the nearly $100,000 in child support for the four kids he already has. The decision upholds the ruling of a Lorain County court judge who issued the ban in January 2013.
Jude Donna Carr, of the appeal's court three-judge panel, said Lorain County Probate Judge James Walther was right to rule against Taylor given his past failure to support his children.
"Where, as here, the defendant has demonstrated a long-term refusal to support multiple children by multiple women notwithstanding his ability to work and contribute something for their care, an anti-procreation condition is reasonably related to future criminality," Carr wrote in the court's decision released Monday and obtained by The Chronicle-Telegram.
"Taylor has here demonstrated that he is not inclined to support any of his children. There is no reason to believe that he would be inclined to support any future children."
Taylor's defense attorney, Doug Merrill, said the ruling is a violation of his client's right to reproduce and that he plans on bringing the case to the Ohio Supreme Court.
"The court is now stepping into his bedroom," Merrill said in 2013, the newspaper reported.
Walther said it was a "matter of common sense and personal responsibility" when he issued the procreation ban. He said Taylor would spend a year in jail if he violated the ban.
Walther said he was happy the appeals court upheld his decision because it will help him decide in similar cases. But he also wished the court gave more details as to the legality of his decision.
The appeals court said that without a pre-sentence report, which would have provided more information about Taylor's past, they could not decide on the integrity of Walther's ruling.
