Conservatorship of Valerie N.

Valerie (defendant), severely developmentally disabled with Down Syndrome, exhibited affectionate and sexually forward behavior toward men, could not tolerate birth control pills, could not use other contraceptive methods, and would not cooperate with an IUD examination; her parents (plaintiffs), as prospective conservators, sought authority to have her sterilized, supported by her physician and a therapist, but a state statute categorically barred nontherapeutic sterilization of conservatees. Her parents challenged the statute as unconstitutionally depriving Valerie of the only realistic contraceptive option available to her.