From The Palm Beach Post:
In a hearing that day before Juvenile Court Judge Ronald Alvarez, the state argued that Florida law gives DCF authority to prevent [the girl] from having an abortion. The state said the girl was not able to make an informed decision because of her age and immaturity, according to the appeal filed Wednesday by the ACLU.
Alvarez agreed to delay the abortion until the court could give [the girl] a psychological evaluation to find out whether an abortion could cause her emotional harm. The judge also wanted the court to determine whether the girl would face medical risks in terminating the pregnancy or carrying the baby to term.
What an outrageous and insulting thing to do. What about investigating the emotional trauma caused by forcing a 13 year old girl to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term? Given that either outcome might cause emotional trauma, why does the state of Florida think they should be the ones to decide which is right for this girl, especially if it is the opposite of what she herself has expressed? What about the fact that, according to this Miami Herald article, the Florida law specifically says that minors have a right to decide for themselves whether to carry a pregnancy to term:
Attorneys for the girl, who is identified in court papers only as L.G., told Judge Ronald Alvarez that Florida courts have consistently held that, under the state's strongly worded privacy law, minors have a right to decide for themselves whether to continue or abort a pregnancy.
Why is it that an unborn non-yet-person, unable to exist without this 13 year old girl's continued assistance, unable to form rational thoughts, has more rights than the 13 year old who herself has expressed the desire to end the pregnancy? To paraphrase Bitch Ph.D., why is she too young and immature to make an informed decision, but not to young and immature to become a mother? The doublethink here is chilling. Privately, she's mature enough to decide to have sex, and therefore to be punished for it. But publicly, the reason for the intervention is that she isn't mature enough to decide whether an abortion would cause emotional trauma.
Bitch Ph.D also writes,
The ACLU is taking the case and pointing out that some shitty state agency cannot overturn a constitutional right. Though, of course, if they drag it through the courts long enough it's a foregone conclusion. Lucky little girl.
I agree with B. up to a point, but it is important to keep in mind the point Michael Berube made here: Rights can be created, reinterpreted, extended, and revoked. To paraphrase Berube, many of us would prefer to believe that women have an intrinsic right to an abortion no matter whether they were born in 1962 or 1992. But this is just a feminist's wishful thinking. For what would it mean for this girl to "possess" rights that no doctor would recognize? For all practical purposes, the Supreme Court created women's right to abortions in Roe v. Wade. As much as I agree with the ACLU's position, I fear it would be all too easy for the Supreme Court to use this case to begin to limit the scope of the Roe decision.
As though this weren't enough, it gets worse. From the same Miami Herald article quoted above:
The controversy is likely to reopen fresh wounds. The March 31 death of Terri Schiavo, after a Pinellas County judge ordered the removal of her feeding tube, exposed deep fissures between state government and the courts over questions involving privacy and preservation-of-life issues. Some of the same passions that roiled in that case could be awakened.
That's right! The real story here is not the trauma of experiencing childbirth as a 13 year old. No, it's a disagreement between Florida government and courts. Alright, maybe I should back off just a little bit and admit that I'm being a little uncharitable in my interpretation of Carol Marbin Miller's intent (she's the author of the Miami Herald article). After all, the greater ramifications of this case are exactly what makes the whole thing so chilling. But I think it is very important to keep in mind that these are not just abstract issues. They affect real people. In this case, the State of Florida is trying to force a 13 year old girl to carry a pregnancy to term against her will. If this is what you mean when you talk about "family values," I want no part of them.
Thanks to The Nut for pointing me in the direction of these links.
8 comments:
Good post. You're right, of course, about my use of the phrase "constitutional rights"--I was thinking of it being legal in Florida (for now). OTOH, in terms of "rights" in a less legalistic sense, women do have the right to an abortion; it wasn't invented by Roe, we've been doing it forever. It's just that a lot of us died exercising the right to stick things into our uteruses to end pregnancies, y'know?
is she too young and immature to make an informed decision, but not to young and immature to become a mother? The doublethink here is chilling.
No, you're not thinking far enough. They don't necessarily think she's mature enough to become a mother. The next step will be the termination of her parental rights without a hearing, freeing up her infant for adoption. (And no, I am in *no* way anti-adoption; but I've heard way too many people wailing about the scarcity of healthy infants.)
Perhaps not mature enough to actually parent a child, but they obviously think she's mature enough to deliver a baby. But I'm just quibbling, actually, I agree with you. The irony is, there are plenty of babies available for adoption. The problem is, they aren't white.
Sara;
Yeah, my thoughts are running in the same direction.
I see potential problems for all underage, female wards of the state and how their fertility could be made to benefit childless couples and it scares me positively spitless.
So I have trackback now and my comments are all gone. Don't know how to get them back but it's not worth losing sleep over either. But you can track me back now, isn't that what's important? :)
Now I remember what I was going to say. Mississippi has actually passed a law that states abortions cannot be performed on fetus'after 13 weeks gestation.
And they now only have 1 clinic to serve the whole state.
You can check this article out, which is pretty good, but you have to sign up and all that stuff to get it.
Like Trish said, they don't see what maturity has to do with motherhood, seeing as conservatives seem to regard women as brood bitches.
Gasp! Charlie, are you suggesting that our country is both sexist AND racist?
Har har! Too much, mon ami. You're damned right about what this is really all about. I think I'm going to have to start a new country somewhere, where the first amendment is, "Nice religious persons are welcomed. Religious fundamentalists will be shot. Fred Phelps will be shot twice."
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