Girl, 13, fighting DCF bid to block abortion
The state and child advocates face off in court over the case of a 13-year-old foster child who wants to end her pregnancy.
BY CAROL MARBIN MILLER
The plight of a 13-year-old Palm Beach County foster child, who is pregnant and wants an abortion, is pitting children's advocates against Florida's child welfare agency, which has custody of the girl and has asked a judge to forbid her from ending her 13-week pregnancy.
The Department of Children & Families, which has been responsible for the girl for many years, argued to a West Palm Beach judge Tuesday that the girl is too immature to decide for herself whether to carry the 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.
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.
On Tuesday, Alvarez signed an order temporarily halting the girl from terminating her pregnancy, an order that has been appealed by the girl's lawyers. The judge also has ordered a psychological evaluation to determine whether she is competent to decide for herself whether to end the pregnancy -- and what actions would be in her best interests.
A spokeswoman for DCF, which provoked a firestorm in 2003 when officials sought to prevent a severely disabled Orlando woman, J.D.S., from terminating her pregnancy, declined to discuss the case at length.
''The Department of Children & Families is acting in accordance with what we believe is in the best interest of the child,'' said Zoraya Suarez, a spokeswoman for Secretary Lucy Hadi. ``If a child in our care requires any procedure that is prohibited by Florida statute, we cannot consent to that procedure.''
Florida law says that ''in no case shall the department [DCF] consent to a sterilization, abortion or termination of life support'' on behalf of a client under department care.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida and the Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County, which are representing the girl, insist that the Florida law is trumped by a 1989 Florida Supreme Court decision, called the T.W. case. Citing privacy rights, the high court struck down a state law that required the consent of parents before a minor could obtain an abortion.
''DCF and the circuit court have instituted a process whereby the state will make a decision for L.G. based upon its own evaluation of her best interest,'' the girl's lawyers wrote. ``This it cannot do.''
L.G., whose parents were stripped of their rights to raise her, has been in foster care for several years. Though she is originally from Palm Beach County, sources say she was living in a group home in St. Petersburg when she became pregnant. She now lives in a licensed shelter home, records show.
About two weeks ago, L.G. learned she was pregnant following a medical examination, records show. ''Almost immediately after learning that she was pregnant, L.G. informed [her] DCF caseworker that she wished to terminate the pregnancy,'' according to pleadings filed by her attorneys.
The abortion was scheduled for Tuesday. But early Tuesday morning, DCF attorneys, in an emergency motion, asked Alvarez to block the abortion. He agreed, temporarily, and ordered the girl be examined for mental competency.
In court papers, L.G.'s lawyers say the girl, ''though a longtime ward of the state,'' was never determined to be incompetent, and was never placed in a mental institution for treatment -- an action that is not uncommon for longtime foster children.
Lynda Bell, a Homestead woman who heads Florida Right to Life, an antiabortion group, praised the judge's action, saying officials needed to study the case more closely before making any decisions. ''I'm very concerned with the rush to abort,'' Bell said.
''My concern number one is for this child,'' she added. ``This just breaks my heart.''
But Howard Simon, who heads the American Civil Liberties Union in Florida, a group that is partly representing L.G., called the state's action politically motivated. ''This is what you get when ideology drives child welfare decisions,'' Simon said.
''Putting aside the legal and the constitutional principles here, the fact that the state is preparing to force a 13-year-old to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term is just simply cruel,'' Simon added.
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Ah Florida...
I can't even imagine what this child is going thru, first to be pregnant at age 13 (Yes, it wasn't an immaculate conception, so she is responsible as well) but then to have the state block what you want to do? Wouldn't having this child, that age 13, she's unable to support, be much worse on her than having the abortion?
Should a 13 year old be able to make a decision as to what to do with her own body? This is a ward of the state, what if she were your 13 year old daughter who found out she was pregnant?