The teenager, who lives with her parents, only realized she was pregnant when her grandmother spotted her growing bump and took her for medical tests, the London Daily Mail newspaper reported.Posted on 05/14/2014 3:10:44 PM PDT by NYer
A judge in England this week ruled that a pregnant 13-year-old girl can have an abortion, even though she is 30-weeks along.
Justice Mostyn ruled she was capable of making decision after the girl, known only as “A” in court documents, said she was not ready to have a baby. She was 21 weeks pregnant when the case went before the High Court in mid-March, making it so her unborn child is roughly 30-weeks-old now.
The teenager, who lives with her parents, only realized she was pregnant when her grandmother spotted her growing bump and took her for medical tests, the London Daily Mail newspaper reported.
The abortion comes as, in the United States, a new report from the Guttmacher Institute finds teenage abortion rates are down to their lowest levels since 1988, a drop of 66 percent from that peak.
The schoolgirl – who can be identified only as ‘A’ – is believed to have thought she had been gaining a little weight for other reasons.
A scan at a local hospital confirmed she was pregnant but the devastated girl said she was not ready to start a family at such a young age and wanted to have a termination.
The girl was 21 weeks pregnant when the case went before the High Court as an emergency hearing in mid-March.
The local authority, which is in the North of England, was forced to seek a declaration that the child had the capacity to make the abortion decision herself.
This was required to ensure that doctors and hospital trusts could not be sued if they carried out the medical procedure.
If the girl was not capable of fully understanding the situation, the local authority would be allowed to terminate the pregnancy if doctors believed it was in her best interests.
He said this was the case even if it might lead her to take steps ‘wholly contrary to her best interests’.
He said girl A was interviewed by a consultant psychiatrist who concluded very clearly that she had ‘a very clear understanding of her position and of the options that were available to her.
‘Those options namely continuance of the pregnancy, or its termination, were discussed.’
Mr Justice Mostyn said the law allowed a child aged under 16 to be given contraception if they had ‘sufficient understanding and intelligence’
The psychiatrist said that although A was ‘softly spoken’ she was able to explain to him that her wish was to terminate the pregnancy as ‘she felt that she could not cope with its continuance and it would stress her to a considerable degree.’
Easy for the males to say! A friend’s wife tried to explain the child birthing experience to me as the following: “Just take your upper lip and stretch it over your head.” Since then, I have been somewhat unwilling to tell a female what to do regarding child bearing.
Well, I'm female and I'll say that too.
If she's old enough to have sex, she's old enough to take responsibility for her actions.
There are 30 yrs old who can have sex who aren't "ready" to be a parent.
How you so facilely exempt everyone who should be looking out for the welfare of this 13 yr old girl (13!!!) is beyond me; those with your attitude do much damage to the pro-life movement
That's an old Bill Cosby joke. It's hardly a good excuse for murder.
The 13 yr old made some very bad choices. How is murdering a baby going to change that? She’s obviously sexually aware and it doesn’t say she was raped. So murdering her child for the sake of convenience is “pro-life”? Nope.
Read the story, the psychiatrist said ‘Those options namely continuance of the pregnancy, or its termination, were discussed.’ Well, like some posters have said, the baby could have been delivered alive and placed for adoption. Even better, she could have continued the pregnancy and THEN put the baby up for adoption. It doesn’t sound like she was offered those alternatives, it was more like “you terminate the pregnancy or are stuck for life with a baby”. I hope there’s a very hot place in hell for people like that.
See #35. We have no idea what the actual circumstances of this pregnancy are. And where did I say I want the murder to take place? Hardly.
It takes two... Who was the male? An adult? A 12-year old?
And she isn't "mentally challenged" : If the girl was not capable of fully understanding the situation, the local authority would be allowed to terminate the pregnancy if doctors believed it was in her best interests.
He said girl A was interviewed by a consultant psychiatrist who concluded very clearly that she had ‘a very clear understanding of her position
Exactly...,c-section makes the most sense & there is no reason to execute the child
Btw, it certainly sounded like it in Post 42
How you so facilely exempt everyone who should be looking out for the welfare of this 13 yr old girl (13!!!) is beyond me; those with your attitude do much damage to the pro-life movement
Yet Life News chooses to accompany their article with what is, as far as I can tell, a file photo of an anonymous teenage girl who has nothing to do with the story.
What's the point of this?
You dead soul pig, how is aiding this girl in murdering an alive, aware human being dependent upon her going to be ‘looking out for her welfare’? You disgust drek of humnanity, c section the alive child into the world and let the girl go on her way, but don’t add to her sin by helping her commit murder. ... But then you probably don’t believe in sin, do you!
My 10 yr old granddaughter knows exactly how babies get here. It's not like it was when I was 10. They are seldom that innocent now. Do you think the 13 yr old didn't know she could get pregnant? You want to hysterically make it something that it's not.
Is it statutory rape? Maybe. How old was the father? 13 too?
There are consequences to having sex and the truly innocent one in this situation is the baby. TV, movies and music, even classes in school, glorify sex. There are a lot of children doing things they are NOT old enough to deal with and society encourages it. Murdering the baby isn't going to solve the girl's problem.
I have been advocating that this child's child be allowed to live. What I do not advocate is that this 13 yr old child be held culpable when she is a child herself! When all we have to confirm the circumstances is one flimsy few lines, 2nd or 3rd hand.
A 13 yr old child cannot "consent" to sex, and cannot be expected to make decisions about consequences she can't even fathom. It is the adults in this case -- her parents(?), counsel (?), advocates (?), judges -- who deserve our scorn.
I pray for this girl.
You’re off on an emotional rant that has nothing to do with the facts of what I’ve posted here.
I will repeat: I advocate for this child’s child to live. Should the baby be murdered, the blame goes to those “adults” who were (and are) supposed to be looking out for HER welfare.
I pray for this girl.
YES!
How does enabling her to murder her alive, aware child help her in life? Think before you spout off. The welfare of the girl is not being enhanced by the state murdering that alive unborn child. The entire exercise is for the welfare of the devil state who do not want the monetary expense of the alive and aware child, so they will murder that unborn little one in the name of ‘looking out for the girl’s welfare.’ For gosh sakes, don’t help them spittle that great lie!
You spittled, “You want to now put, on her alone, the burden of making a decision about childbirth?” Think, dolt. How will the alive child be removed from the girl’s body? By surgery, and you know it. At thirty weeks they will either birthe dead/murdered in situ child whole or dismember the child and remove the corpse vaginally. Whay would it be more traumatic to bring the alive child into the world via c section and not involve her vagina? Think woman, think!
My statement was and is that kids are much more aware of sex than they were years ago. I also stated: There are consequences to having sex and the truly innocent one in this situation is the baby. TV, movies and music, even classes in school, glorify sex. There are a lot of children doing things they are NOT old enough to deal with and society encourages it.
You have a nice night.
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