We've heard of forced abortions in China. Women being held down against their will, sometimes drugged or sedated, and forcibly, yet legally, aborted. We think this could never happen in our neck of the woods. Think again. Just this week in Britain, a High Court Judge ordered that a 13-year-old girl abort her 14-week-old unborn baby. The girl had previously insisted that she wanted to give birth to her baby however the Judge James Munby knew better and ruled that an abortion "was in her best interests".
The 13-year-old girl, who has unspecified mental health issues and is reported to have a difficult upbringing, was impregnated by a 14-year-old boy. Despite the fact that she did not want an abortion and at the time of her mental health evaluation had "set her mind against a termination", UK Social Services asked the High Court to decide whether the pregnancy should be allowed to proceed.
It is reported that the girl has an IQ of 54, which, along with about 2.5% of the worlds population, puts her into the IQ category of being mentally deficient. But really that is not the point. The point is who decides if an abortion is in her best interest and using what criteria? This becomes especially important when she has indicated, more than once, that she wants to continue the pregnancy. If she is as described; "a very damaged and impaired young girl", who's to say that forcibly aborting the baby she wishes to give birth to won't damage her as much as (if not more than) allowing her to continue the pregnancy? Well, the expert Child Psychologist who testified in the case, for one.
An expert who examined this girl went on to testify in court that allowing her to give birth might be "the less-damaging course".
"If the pregnancy were terminated I believe that this would cause considerable harm to this young girl, who would see it as an assault. Continuing the pregnancy...may have a less detrimental effect on her given her current circumstances," the expert said. But who needs experts when you have Sir James Munby dictating this girl's life and the fate of her 14-week-old baby.
The story mirrors the Ireland's 'C' Case in which a 13-year-old rape victim was taken to England for an abortion, against the wishes of her parents. In later media interviews this girl would testify that she had no idea she was going to England for an abortion and expected to wake up after the procedure with a baby in her arms. Years of medication and psychotherapy would follow as Miss C struggled to recover from what was effectively a forced abortion.
At the time of writing it has been confirmed that an abortion was indeed carried out on this unfortunate UK teenager. A crisis pregnancy where once again the life of the child was eliminated instead of the crisis. Only time will tell what toll this will have on the baby's mother who's request to give birth was overruled by a stranger who knew what was "in her best
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