Judge forces 13-year-old to have abortion

by Jonathon Morgan (Subscribe to Jonathon Morgan's posts) Feb 19th 2007 5:30PM

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Italian law dictates that a minor cannot decide whether or not to abort her child, and thus, the decision is left entirely in the hands of the girl's parents. As result, the judge in a recent case ordered an unwilling 13-year-old to have an abortion.

The girl became pregnant by her 15-year-old boyfriend, and her parents, incensed, demanded that she have an abortion.

After the procedure, the 13-year-old reportedly went "into a frenzy," and threatened to commit suicide. She is now undergoing treatment.

I can't help but find this appalling. I can't imagine how the country came to have such a law in the first place, and then for it to be enacted like this seems incredibly unjust. I'm pro-choice, but to deny a person -- whatever age -- the right to have their baby is unfathomable.

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)

SKL 2-19-2007 @ 5:57PM

I know a family whose teen daughter twice got pregnant by a boy her parents didn't approve. (She was white, he was black.)Both times they forced her against her will to have an abortion. After the second abortion, she committed suicide.

I don't think people in this country realize how often abortion is the result of someone forcing (or severely pressuring) the mother into the "choice" of abortion. If these young women really had their heartfelt "choice," there would be a lot fewer abortions.

Why don't women's advocates understand that most of us just want the right to be complete women, and for most of us, that includes being mothers? A pregnant teen feels like a woman carrying her miraculous baby, just like any other pregnant woman.

Kimberly 2-19-2007 @ 6:38PM

I imagine that the law is in place to prevent abortions by teens, not to facilitate them.

I agree that it does happen, that young girls---whose parents are typically anti-abortion--are forced into unwanted abortions by parents who are looking to discreetly avoid embarrassment. However, I don't think that's a reason to try and take away the right to choose. I think it's a reason to strengthen it. To ensure that every pregnant woman has the right to choose FOR HERSELF what she will do with her own body.

Kellie 2-19-2007 @ 6:44PM

This has upset me more than I can even explain.

Jenna 2-19-2007 @ 6:47PM

This goes against everything that the pro-choice mindset stands for... I am disgusted.

Jeanette 2-20-2007 @ 7:24AM

Kimberly - you say every "pregnant WOMEN" should get to choose...is a 13 year old a women? I might be inclined to say that she is. However, I also dislike laws for stautory rape if the female is under a certain age. My point is this: People are generally not outraged when parents and cours step in to say that a person cannot consent to sex. Those who support such parental and governmental intrusion must logically aso support this judicial decision.

Ann Adams 2-19-2007 @ 7:34PM

Pro-choice to me means exactly that. The right of the individual to choose without coercion from either side.

Ethel 2-19-2007 @ 7:52PM

Okay, I'll ignore my own militant pro-choice stance, and lets play devil's advocate. The child is 13 years old! If she wanted to stop radiation for a curable cancer, and the parents wanted her to go through it, would we be having this argument?

Most thirteen year olds I know are fertile but their bodies are not ready to have a baby, and there is an increase of physical issues with having a baby that young. As a parent I would be most alarmed with the idea of a 13 year old being pregnant, not that she would be having a baby. I know my pelvis was not finished growing at that age, nor was I - and if I had my 9lb or 10lb babies then it surely would have been a c-section.

Amy 2-19-2007 @ 8:18PM

What about the father? Do he and his parents have no say at all? I think a 13 year old should not be so unsupervised that she would be able to get pregnant at all. This whole thing is so wrong.

ReDinkyDink 2-20-2007 @ 8:11PM

Wow, that is truely horrible.

Bee 2-19-2007 @ 8:29PM

Ethel, you make some very good points. It would indeed be very scary to have a baby when you are 13, physically and mentally.

I'm still not sure how I feel though - having an abortion is not the same as having a tumor removed, depending on what you believe. It could, dare I say would, since it seems she is opposed - definitely have a permanent mentally scarring effect on the girl. As SKL mentioned, possibly suicide-inducing. Then you have to kind of ask what's worse. Not trying to debate your post, just devil's advocating your devil's advocate, lol.

When I was in high school, a 14 yr old classmate got pregnant, had the baby, and managed to be ok. Not something I would recommend to anyone by any stretch - but the mother finished high school & went on to be a productive member of the workforce - and the child grew up to be an honor student when graduating high school. So to me it's not a case of "this child should wthout a question be forced to abort the fetus or they are both 100% screwed for life".

I feel bad for the girl, I really do, there is no easy answer in this situation.

KIM 2-19-2007 @ 9:22PM

THIS IS MOST HEINOUS...THIS IS WHAT ABORTION HAS COME TO...NOT SURPRISING...AND STILL SICKENING...THE ALMOST TOTAL DISRESPECT FOR HUMAN LIFE...THE TOTAL DISRESPECT WILL BE HERE SOON.

Lisa 2-19-2007 @ 10:06PM

It is scary to think the government has that much control in helping the parents force their daughter to have an abortion. I am for pro-choice, women have a right to choose what they want to do with their bodies. If the girl is able to deal with the responsibility of having sex then she should be able to deal with the responsibility with making the choice and consiquencs of having a child. She would need help...but still....

Tom F. 2-19-2007 @ 11:13PM

Will...someone please...get 'KIM' a Valium...and...a grammar book that...shows the...proper use of...an elipsis.

Uly 2-20-2007 @ 12:06AM

SKL, I agree with *some* of what you said. This wasn't about choice.

And if more women had the ability to make the choice to raise their kids, I'm sure they would. That's actually why the abortion rate *rose* under Bush, when it had been *dropping* under Clinton - with less societal support out there, women found themselves unable to care for children they would otherwise have wanted. And, in the end, I think most people agree it's better not to have a child you can't raise.

Sasha 2-19-2007 @ 11:32PM

I'm sorry, I'm pro-choice but we have to think of society at large and least of all the girl's parents. "If you can't feed them, don't breed them."
She wasn't mature enough to take simple precautions beforehand, how can we trust her judgement after? We've seen "maury", we know statistically what happens to children born to underaged and under educated parents. We understand the time and energy put into raising her, lets face it she probably got pregnant because her parents are out working instead of being home to supervise her. The answer isn't quite so black-and-white.

Joanna 2-20-2007 @ 12:05AM

This is horrible. Any girl/woman who has sex knows what the outcome is. Abortion should be the MOTHERS decision only. NO ONE ELSES. I do know a girl who had twins 2 days after her 13th birthday. She is completely fine and so are the babies(they are not babies anymore! lol)
I am pro-choice all the way but this is sickening! Wow what is this world coming too?

Kathy 2-20-2007 @ 12:06AM

I personally do not believe in abortion for any reason. As one stated she knew what she was doing when having sex and she probably knew the chances she was taking by not using any protection, but what is wrong is to make this young girl abort her child -there is a thing called adoption and it seems to me that would have been both the parents and the judges first choice before demanding an abortion. People don't realize that it would have probably been safer to have the child than to abort because things to go wrong with abortions. I just can't see killing a child because of one's age.

SKL 2-20-2007 @ 12:15AM

Those posters who claim to be both pro-choice and in favor of this girl's abortion are simply pro-abortion.

Pro-abortion. Could we stop the choice BS?

I know many children who were born to young unmarried teens, and they have no more problems than "planned" kids born to older / married people. Many of them are better people because they have more down-to-earth personalities. Some of them are honor students. Both they and their mothers have decent to comfortable lives.

And so what if a 13-year-old's child is born by C-section? She would have lots of company. The risk of a c-section is not a life-threatening risk.

This teen had a life growing inside her which she wanted to protect. She fought to protect this life. Now she suffers because she was unable to protect this life. Nobody in favor of this can also be truly in favor of "choice."

What I'm reading from some posters is that it's OK to choose abortion, always, but it's only OK to choose life if the life meets certain standards set by . . . who? If God chose to create this life, and the mother chose to protect it, WHO has ANY right to argue for or against the value of this life?

I am sorry but some people on this board are disgusting. If I thought, like you, that I had a right to assign value to humans, I would assign the lowest value to these pro-abortion pro-culling pro-eugenics posters and their like.

SKL 2-20-2007 @ 12:19AM

Another reason why that Italian law sucks is that it protects incestuous fathers.

Nancy Toby 2-20-2007 @ 8:44AM

It sounds like there's much more to this situation than we know about - and the link provided doesn't work for me. Does anyone have more information from any fairly objective source?

I usually wait to get outraged until I know at least half the facts of a situation, myself. YMMV.