Via a diary on Daily Kos, from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, this story of a pregnant 13-year-old girl standing in front of Judge Ronald Alvarez asking why she's being prevented from having an abortion as she wishes:
"Since you guys are supposedly here for the best interest of me, then wouldn't you all look at that fact that it'd be more dangerous for me to have the baby than to have an abortion?" she asked. Alvarez called that "a good point."
Dr. Ethelene Jones, an expert in obstetrics and gynecology, testified earlier in the hearing that abortions are "definitely" safer than full term pregnancies for girls L.G.'s age.
"At her age and at her stage of gestation ... her risk of death from an abortion procedure is about 1 in 34,000," said Jones, who has held positions at Planned Parenthood and the ACLU. "The risk of death in pregnancy is about 1 in 10,000."
This girl is a ward of the state, living in a shelter. She is THIRTEEN! They are willing to increase her risk of death more than THREE HUNDRED PERCENT to prevent her from having the abortion she wants to have?
This isn't about any "culture of life;" it's about controlling what girls and women do with our bodies.
This was even in the news here. Sometimes I just want to hide. What's also sad is that she's a ward of the state and lives in a SHELTER!
Posted by: KathyF | 01 May 2005 at 01:20 AM
They'll make her have the baby and then take it from her - she mentioned that in court. She's been dragged to clinics for counseling about the alternatives and risks to abortion 3 times. She asked the judge why she wasn't allowed to make her own decision and he replied "I don't know."
Florida's parental notification laws have an injunction because they are unconstitutional; Florida State Law allows a minor who is pregnant to make her own decision regarding the disposition of her pregnancy - this must be why Judge Alvarez "doesn't know" why he won't allow her to make her own decision. ..it must be against his conscience (and that of Lucy Haddi of DCF) to inform her she is allowed to make that decision and it has to be honored.
Posted by: ol cranky | 01 May 2005 at 10:52 AM