I spent last night in a deep discussion with my traditionalist Catholic mother. After several glasses of wine I brought up the case of the 13 year old girl in Florida who wants an abortion. I could clearly see her struggle, and finally she came down on the side of choice for the girl. It was not easy for her, and I applaud her sincere thought.
In the end it came down to 2 things: first, that the male would continue his life unhindered and unpunished and second, that the girl expressed her choice in her own words.
Here they are, from the Sun-Sentinel.
"Why can't I make my own decision?"
"I don't know," Circuit Judge Ronald Alvarez replied, according to a recording of the closed hearing obtained Friday
"You don't know?" replied the girl, who is a ward of the state. "Aren't you the judge?"
"I don't think I should have the baby because I'm 13, I'm in a shelter and I can't get a job," the girl said as Alvarez and her guardian ad litem, assigned to shepherd her in the legal system, questioned her.
"DCF would take the baby anyway," she said, but later added: "If I do have it, I'm not going to let them take it."
"Since you guys are supposedly here for the best interest of me, then wouldn't you all look at that fact that it'd be more dangerous for me to have the baby than to have an abortion?" she asked. Alvarez called that "a good point."
Read the whole article here.
While this is easily found on BBC, I couldn't find news about it in our Republican media.
We need to spread this and ask the question- "How young does the girl have to be before she counts?" I had a girl in my classroom menstruate at 9.