Posted on 05/03/2005 7:33:22 AM PDT by areafiftyone
WEST PALM BEACH - A 13-year-old at the center of an abortion fight with the state was given permission Monday to terminate her pregnancy, but it was unclear whether she immediately underwent the procedure.
Attorneys for the girl, known only as L.G. in court papers, said the abortion was scheduled for later Monday. However, the state Department of Children and Families appealed the decision, according to Maxine Williams, one of the teen's attorneys.
"Since this is still in litigation, I can't speak to what's going on in court," DCF spokeswoman Marilyn Munoz said.
Palm Beach Juvenile Judge Ronald Alvarez issued an order last week temporarily stopping the teen, who lives in a state shelter, from having the abortion. DCF argued she was too young and immature to decide for herself and state law prohibited the agency from consenting to an abortion.
Alvarez held up the abortion until a psychological evaluation was completed, but he ruled Monday that the teen would not be physically or emotionally harmed by the abortion.
"Legally speaking, it's not a difficult decision to make," Alvarez was quoted as saying by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. "Morally speaking, it's a very difficult decision for this court to make. ... But I'm not here to make the moral decision. I'm here to make the legal decisions."
"He ruled that she is competent, that she has made a decision and that she has a right to act on that decision," said Howard Simon, executive director of the Florida branch of the American Civil Liberties Union, which helped represent the girl. The judge also declared "her right to act on that decision is also in her best interest," Simon said.
The teen, who was more than 14 weeks pregnant, has been in DCF care for at least four years.
Her attorneys say Florida law protects a minor's right to choose an abortion.
Florida's high court cited state privacy rights in 1989 when it tossed out a law that would have required parental consent for a minor's abortion.
That all sounds good but I doubt it would work out like that.
I don't see anything of the kind. I have cared for children conceived in rape and helped to place them for adoption. They were every bit as human as me and you. There is one hard and fast absolute here: no killing the innocent. Why is that so hard for you "pragmatic" types?
Disagree.
The fetus is alive -- chemical processes of life are going on from the moment of conception.
The fetus has a unique genetic code. This is a human genetic code. We're talking about a person.
Abortion is about killing an innocent human child. There are times when a pregnancy is inconvenient or unfortunate. But I see absolutely no circumstances that would justify killing an innocent human child. Choosing Life is always the right choice.
You are probably right, which makes me even sadder and MADDER! I know we don't live in a perfect world, but there are other answers besides abortion....it just seems people aren't willing to get tough with situations like these.
I pray for this little girl and her unborn child.
Typical Liberal judge. Just because he said it does not make it true. The chances are this young woman will be scarred for life. She will remember this act, she will have feelings about it and if statistics are correct, she will stands a higher risk of cancer and future fertility and/or pregnancy problems.
The commandment, THOU SHALT NOT MURDER, stands before her, whether the states says so or not. And the fact that she is headed in that direction indicates that her spiritual state is nowhere near to God.
God is near to her, awaiting to hear the words "Lord Jesus forgive me for my sin through your death on the cross, I repent of my life and turn to you". The result may be a lovely baby and a woman becoming a mother instead of a wreck.
Our society says that motherhood is not good, God on the other hand does.
I don't have a link but I read somewhere that she was living with a man 28-30 years old when she ran away from the group home. I am not sure whether this is the father . The judge asked her who the father was and the girl would only answer "a boy".
Good Lord!
I agree it is hell. My cousins had to go to Columbia South America twice to adopt children. Not a very friendly place to Americans either! They could not adopt children here because they cost too much money for a newborn and it seems that Hollywierd has the monopoly on adoption in this country.
Hard to even imagine this became a court case. The judiciary brings a lot of this upon themselves by accepting cases like this. I guess if morality is not legislated it will be adjudicated.
If I could I would adopt them both myself.
A 13 year old is too young to be tried as an adult for a capital crime but not too young to make this decision. Go figure.
Some would turn the statement on its head, and say how can "pro-choice" types be sincere about, say, feeding starving children or preventing young soldiers from dying in what these types consider an "unnecessary war," when the pro-choice folks wouldn't have cared if these people had been "terminated" during pregnancy and not been born at all.
So I am going to take it that you two people fall into the category of no abortions under any circumstances.
Now that would put you on the extreme right in this position which is fine but also makes up a minority view on this issue.
We should just end the life of the 13 year old. That would prevent the cycle from ever starting. Heck, it doesn't sound like her quality of life us up to par anyway.
Now she'll be free to go out and continue the behavior that got her pregnant in the first place.
I see two positions that might be seen as logically consistent:
1) If the baby is still in the mother, it can be killed. This is how they justify late-term partial-birth abortions.
2) If conception has occured, killing the baby is murder.
You may think Option #2 is a minority viewpoint, but no other viewpoint is both logical and humane. What you propose (if the case is rape ... if it's incest ...) is just situationist ethics, which are always decided in the interests of the powerful. No thank you.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.