Posted on 01/18/2012 4:32:03 PM PST by Morgana
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, January 18, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) On Tuesday, the Massachusetts Appeals Court threw out a lower courts ruling that would have forced a mentally ill woman to undergo an abortion and be forcibly sterilized against her will.
Norfolk Family and Probate Court Judge Christina Harms had ruled on January 6 that the 32-year-old could be coaxed, bribed, or even enticed by ruse until she was sedated for the procedures.
The woman, who is identified only by the pseudonym Mary Moe, is approximately five months pregnant.
Moe, who suffers from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, had a previous abortion in her history. She reportedly described herself as very Catholic, and told the court she wouldnt do that (abortion) again. However, despite the testimony of a court-appointed specialist determined Moe would not choose abortion, and the fact that Moe herself reportedly became agitated and emotional when Judge Harms mentioned her previous abortion, the judge ruled that the specialists findings were inconclusive.
Instead, Harms ruled that Moe was not mentally competent to decide whether to have the baby, and said that if she were mentally competent, she would choose to have an abortion so she could resume taking medication to treat her illness. She added that Moes opposition to abortion stemmed from her substantial delusional beliefs. Although no one had sought sterilization, Harms also ordered Moe sterilized to avoid this painful situation from recurring in the future. The request that Moe abort originated with the state Department of Mental Health.
Appellate Court Associate Justice Andrew R. Grainger overruled the decision, noting Harms orders contradicted a 1982 state Supreme Court ruling allowing all the right to procreate. He added that Harms simply produced the [sterilization] requirement out of thin air. Another judge in a lower court will make a final ruling.
Pro-life advocates expressed thanks at the Appeals Courts decision and dismay at the original ruling.
Terry Donilon, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Boston, told LifeSiteNews.com the original ruling was outrageous.
Its barbaric to force anyone to undergo a sterilization or abortion, constitutional expert John W. Whitehead of the Rutherford Institute told LifeSiteNews.com. To force someone to go against their clearly expressed religious beliefs is a clear violation of the First Amendment, he added.
Its not up to the state to determine who has a child and who doesnt, he said. If permitted, its totalitarian.
The nation should take note at how close we are coming to the forced abortion policy of communist China, Troy Newman of Operation Rescue wrote in a statement e-mailed to LifeSiteNews.com. Can we now dispense with the pro-choice label?
The abortion cartel has never wanted choice. They exist on an insatiable diet of more and more abortion.
Others were surprised such measures were still being performed in the name of public health. I didnt realize that forced sterilizations were going on anywhere, said Howard Trachtman of the National Alliance on Mental Illness Massachusetts. Daniel Pollack of Yeshiva University, said, My guess is it happens a lot more than we know.
The case demonstrates the lingering shadow of eugenics, which has never left the progressive agenda, despite its ugly history, Father Shenan J. Boquet, president of Human Life International, http://hli.org told LifeSiteNews.com.
Although Harms prescribed a compulsory abortion to help stop Moes mental illness, abortion may have triggered her psychological issues in the first place. Court records show Moe had a psychotic break after her abortion and has been hospitalized numerous times for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
In 2003, researchers at the Elliott Institute found women with a history of previous abortion were nearly three-times as likely to have bipolar disorder, and a 2002 study by the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry observed that post-abortive women were being hospitalized for mental illnesses including schizophrenia.
In 2011, Dr. Priscilla Coleman of Bowling Green State University found nearly 10 percent of all mental illness in post-abortive women was attributable to abortion.
Brian Camenker, director of MassResistance, told LifeSiteNews.com, this shows is just how dangerous these lower courts are. Harms, who was appointed by Governor Michael Dukakis in 1989, retired on January 11. Camenker, who has long observed judicial trends in his home state, ranked Dukakis probably the second worst [governor] in memory for judicial appointments.
Fr. Boquet said he is happy the appeals court rejected the extreme nature of the initial judges decision.
This young mother certainly needs help, not more violence in her life, he wrote. We pray that she is able to get the help she needs.
There’s so much wrong here that I don’t know where to start. I think instead, I’ll just go pray for all involved. There’s some serious demonic infestation influencing these folks.
I have a family member living in MA who is bipolar. When she is on her meds, she is very normal. What gives a judge the right to make a judgement on an individual's reproductive freedom.
These Liberal's are downright scary. (I'm just assuming he/she's a Liberal. That's the only thing that makes sense since most Lib's believe they have all the answers.)
MA
queers can get married
have access to kids
take kids into their homes and raise them
teach turd poking is normal in schools to little 5 year olds
force women to never have a baby ,until the court of appeals made sense>
make the woman kill her baby.
defend killing babies but give small sentences to homosexual child molesters
not mother and father on a B/C or marriage certificate
OH and you can’t buy fireworks in the state as it is illegal and you cannot purchase beer or wine at a gas station like so many north east states
you bet that MA is one messed up state.
George Bernard Shaw would be so proud as would Hitlers Hench men and the communists.
here is the nut Bernard shaw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBZsTf6oLfY
Maybe they will be having to justify your existence soon like the left have always wanted.
The left shout bigots etc because many of them deep down are so full of hate, bigotry and sick ideas they they think if they call others it will deflect attention from whom they really
You are so very right about Shaw and Hitler. Sometimes I think we have progressed so far as humans and then I realize that many who believe they have superior intellect have not progressed at all. They still think they “know it all.” I’m sure most of us have run into a number of people who, “know it all.”
What could ANYONE say to this? I had to keep checking to see DID THIS REALLY HAPPEN IN AMERICA? Maybe the judge agree with Obama. She shouldn’t “be punished with a child”.
What could ANYONE say to this? I had to keep checking to see DID THIS REALLY HAPPEN IN AMERICA? Maybe the judge agree with Obama. She shouldn’t “be punished with a child”.
Good Lord! Is this China???!!! Now THIS is really scary!
Sure did. This attitude has been around a long time. This is what we are up against.
I’ve met quite a few of them who think they’re so smart but when I question them they then look dumbfounded as it seems the loons on the left like to surround themselves with like minded others and tell each other how smart they are.
ALL of them shout compassion etc and yet they don’t follow what they shout.
They are doing all of this because they have infiltrated the MSM.
They know now that the MSM covers for them and the majority of people have no clue as to what is really happening and how much hate the left has.
If Planned non-Parenthood and their ilk had their way, this is what they would be doing to us. Because, of course, conservatives are “delusional”.
Killing babies and sterilizing women in Massachusetts?
Why does this not surprise me from the F’in state that created....
Mittens “Peacetime” Romney
Her parents were partitioning a court to be her guardian so they could ok the surgery.
Special, eh?
“....DID THIS REALLY HAPPEN IN AMERICA?”
.
You ain’t seen nothing yet.
In a nation that elected someone like Hussein and could possibly re-elect him, anything against its constitutional principles can be expected.
Look up Buck v. Bell - In 1927 the high court ordered a forced sterilization. This is what happens when the wicked rule and court is not bound by the text of the Constitution.
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