The rights of women with mental disabilities to bear children is the subject of intense public debate.

NO, my disabled daughter should never have a child!

There are those who believe everyone should have the right to become a parent, and those who do not.

The law in Queensland is clear on the subject. Under current legislation, it is possible for a third party to decide whether a woman can ever give birth, or a man can ever father a child.

That legislation relates to people with a disability. It's a law some people say has a foundation in eugenics. For others, a court ruling in favour of parents seeking to sterilise their child is seen as a common sense solution to a very complex problem.

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But an Australian senate inquiry currently underway into the involuntary or coerced sterilisation of people with disabilities could change all that.

Hopefully for the better, says Karin Swift, president of Women with Disabilities Australia.

To force someone to remove perfectly functioning organs is basically an abuse of their human rights, she says from her Brisbane office.

There are other options, but too often the most severe course of action is pushed to the front.

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Sterilising people with disabilities: eugenics or common sense?