By MELISSA WELLHAM
In yet another infallible application of logic regarding abortion laws in the United States, a judge has told a 16-year-old girl that she’s “not sufficiently mature” to decide whether or not she should have an abortion.
However, the court decided that she was was definitely grown-up enough to raise a kid of her own.
The Nebraska Supreme Court denied the 16-year-old’s request for an abortion. Her case was held when she was 10 weeks pregnant.
The girl – who is referred to as ‘Anonymous 5’ – is a foster child, and spoke sensibly during the court hearing, saying that she was worried about having to become a mother as she did not have the financial resources, and could not be “the right mom that I would like to be right now.”
Nebraska is one of the only eight states in America that require girls who are under 17 years of age to get permission from a parent or guardian before obtaining an abortion. Because Anonymous 5 is actually a ward of the state, the rights of her biological parents were dissolved, and there is no one individual to grant her permission.
Judge Bataillon said that Anonymous 5’s foster parents could grant permission as her guardian – although this was disputed by defence attorney involved in the case. The teenager reportedly said that she did not want to involve her deeply religious foster parents as she believed she would lose her place with them if they found out about her pregnancy.
According to Nebraskan law, parental involvement can be waived in specific circumstances, but there needs to be “clear and convincing evidence” that “the minor is sufficiently mature and well-informed” enough to make the decision to have an abortion.
Maturity that might be indicated by, say, a minor managing to navigate the legal processes Anonymous 5 has been through?
But apparently Judge Bataillion – who reportedly also served in the past on a committee for an anti-abortion group based in Omaha – wasn’t swayed.
And now, a 16-year-old girl who is not in a financial position to raise a child, who is scared that she may lose the roof over her head, and who has suffered abuse and neglect at the hands of her parents in the past, isn’t mature enough to get an abortion. She isn’t well-informed enough about what an abortion entails.
But she is grown-up enough to become a mother.
Nice one, Nebraska.
What do you think of the court’s ruling?
Top Comments
I'm sure this opinion will be wildly unpopular on this site, but how about looking at this whole thing from a step back in the chain of events. If we all agree that 16 is probably too young to be mature enough to raise a child, then how about we admit that it is also too young to be having sex in the first place? Instead of just teaching kids that "if it's not on, it's not on" and sending them on their merry way, maybe we should let them know the reality - that the ability to generate pregnancy is in the very nature of sex, even with contraception, and that maybe, just maybe, sex should be avoided until you can accept this risk.
I see where you're coming from and yes, good sex education (not necessarily abstinence) is very important.
However, do you think that a state that has laws that make 16 year olds ask their parents for permission to have an abortion, would encourage decent sex education? I wouldn't imagine so.
Just say no is NOT sex education btw and is generally a dismal failure.
okay, but let's step back further in the chain. Parents rights dissolved, presumably because they were unfit parents. So already there is a lack of support and positive role models for this girl
Deeply religious foster parents - I don't think she would have been advised of the nature of sex let alone contraception. Abstinence may be the key in their minds, but it does not always work that way for curious teens.
Teens don't always look to the worst case scenario or future consequences of their actions, and in a situation like this without proper guidance, it was going to be an uphill battle...
Making her have a baby wont teach her a lesson
How is that judge serving anyway? With past affiliations like being an anti-abortion committee member, how is he qualified to make unbiased rulings in cases such as this? Absolutely disgraceful Nebraska. Honestly, America might be think it is a pillar of democracy but actually, it is such a backward, stifled country.