Posted on 05/23/2003 5:00:00 PM PDT by cgk
MATTERS OF LIFE AND DEATH
Judge orders abortion
for disabled woman
28-year-old also to undergo tubal ligation to bar future pregnancies
© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com
A Miami judge has ruled a mentally disabled rape victim should have an abortion because the pregnancy could be life-threatening, according to local press reports.
The woman, whose identity is not being revealed, is mentally retarded with the cognitive abilities of a 4-year-old, deaf, prone to having seizures and has a shunt in her brain to drain excess fluid.
Police believe the woman was raped, and likely more than once.
Medical experts say carrying the pregnancy to full-term would be dangerous for her and may result in the baby being deformed. The mother of the woman asked for the pregnancy to be terminated.
"My main concern now is my daughter, she told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. "When I heard that heartbeat, you will never know what it did to me. But I can't be asked to choose between my grandchild or my daughter."
Doctors at Jackson Memorial Hospital scheduled an abortion for last week, reports the Sun-Sentinel, but chose not to perform it because the baby appeared to be developing normally and there was no medical reason to terminate the pregnancy.
Yesterday, the woman's newly appointed guardians asked the court to decide the fate of the 23-week-old unborn baby.
"My baby no more" the disabled woman reportedly told the judge at the hearing.
Lewis Fogle, the woman's court-appointed attorney, told Circuit Judge Arthur Rothenberg that after looking into the case and communicating with her as much as he could, he concluded she wanted an abortion.
In a brief order issued today, Rothenberg agreed to the abortion and also ordered the 28-year-old woman to undergo a tubal ligation to prevent future pregnancies, reports the Miami Herald.
Rothenberg also ordered a DNA sample from the unborn baby be preserved so that police can identify the rapist, according to the paper.
The ruling may have an effect on the controversial case of a disabled 22-year-old Orlando woman who was also raped while under the care of Florida child-welfare authorities.
As WorldNetDaily reported, Gov. Jeb Bush intervened in the case, requesting a guardian be appointed to represent the interests of the unborn baby.
His involvement came after officials with the Department of Children & Families, or DCF, initially filed an emergency petition asking a circuit judge in Orlando to appoint separate guardians for the woman and the child, but later dropped the request, citing a 1989 Florida Supreme Court ruling in a landmark abortion-rights case.
Bush, who opposes abortion, overruled the agency and ordered lawyers to seek a guardian for the unborn baby.
"Given the facts of this case, it is entirely appropriate that an advocate be appointed to represent the unborn child's best interests in all decisions," Bush said in a statement. "While others may interpret this case in light of their own positions, we see it as the singular tragedy it is, and remain focused on serving the best interests of this particular victim and her unborn child."
The ACLU, along with the National Organization for Women and Center for Reproductive Rights, filed a court brief asking the court to deny the governor's request, claiming such a judgment would go against precedent that a "fetus" is not a person.
Previous article:
Governor seeks guardian for unborn baby
"My main concern now is my daughter, she told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. "When I heard that heartbeat, you will never know what it did to me. But I can't be asked to choose between my grandchild or my daughter."
It obviously did NOTHING to you, you soul-less wench. How would carrying a baby to full-term by a mentally disabled woman cause the baby to be DEFORMED? There are tests for these things - and available now if they baby is 23 weeks old. And all that would/should tell these people is what to be prepared for when the baby is born - which could be delivered by C-section. This is an outrage. ADOPTION is ALWAYS A CHOICE.
Scary thing about this is that when (not if) these unborns are snatched from their mother's womb, yet another weight fall on America's balances in judgement.
Can you spell innocent blood?
God ain't happy with that.
I hoped that after 9/11, we as a nation would get right.
Fool that I am.
As a nation, we are wide open, pedal to the metal on the Highway to Hell.
What is not reported in this article is the bias of the judge, if liberal bias, killing the uborn is a 'simple solution' regardless of the fact that this sensing baby will likely be dismembered for removal! I'm wondering if, since she is to have two medical procedures which require anesthesia, why she cannot have a C-section to save the life of the already alive and apparently healthy baby? I smell a deadly agenda here! I personally cite only to save the life of the woman as reason to terminate a pregnancy, but even then, if it is possible to save both alive beings, why not do so? [An before some fool leftists jumps on me for supporting pregnancy continuing in cases of rape, know this: I'm 57 and I was conceived when my blessed Mother was forced to have sex. My Mother did not have me killed since I was not the beast that committed a crime.]
The stress of late term pregancy could kill this woman. You want to risk her life to make a point. You are wrong.
Selective cosmectic abortion is wrong, immoral, and should be illegal. That is not the case here. Forget the fact that this woman was raped. Those aren't even the issues here. This woman has severe health problems and could very conceivably die from delivering a child.
I am extremely offended at you for suggesting her mother isn't aching with agony at this decision. There are plenty of black and white cases for you to scream at, but don't you dare scream at her mother. It might make you feel smug to force this woman to give birth, but your smugness won't give this woman her daughter back if the worst happens.
Sorry for this long rant, but I am sick and freak and tired of the extremists on both ends. Those who believe abortion should be used as birth control, and equate it's moral signifigance as to a hangnail procedure, and those who think mentally retarded raped, physically at risk women should be forced to give birth are equal evils.
Pray for this mother, this daughter, and pray to God that this rapist is caught.
In this case what?
It is my opinion that NONE of us has the right to judge this mother's actions. She is in a position that no human should ever have to occupy, and no matter what her (or our) personal beliefs are, she is already going through Hell.
My thoughts are with her, and her daughter. May the child's rapist know the teeth of all the foul Fiends, gnawing him forever.
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