Australia Judge in Brisbane Criticized for Allowing Abortion on 12-Year-Old Girl
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
September 26, 2008
Brisbane, Australia (LifeNews.com) — A judge in Australia is coming under heavy criticism for allowing a 12-year-old girl to have an abortion. Queensland Supreme Court Justice Margaret Wilson has ordered that doctors in the Australian state be allowed to give the young girl the dangerous abortion drug mifepristone (RU 486).
The decision came in a closed-door hearing last week and the court heard how the girl in question is 18 weeks pregnant. The girl sought the abortion at a public hospital and apparently has the support of her parents.
State government attorneys brought the case before the judge on behalf of the physicians and said the court had to approve the abortion because of the girl’s young age.
According to local media, the girl in question is mentally disabled and the court was told that she may not have a full understanding and appreciation of the situation.
Although the girl was an obvious victim of sexual abuse, Judge Wilson granted the abortion request and said taking the baby’s life was in the girl’s best interest.
Local media indicate the judge relied on the testimony of two psychologists who claimed allowing the pregnancy to continue would somehow jeopardize the girl’s mental health.
Reports indicate the girl’s parents have been separated for three years and the whereabouts of the father are unknown.
The case comes on the heels of another one in Queensland, Australia where a medical panel heard in August that an abortion practitioner did a late-term abortion on a mentally disabled woman without her consent.
The panel learned that Mark Schulberg failed to contact authorities about the fact the woman was raped.
Schulberg faced a Medical Practitioners Board hearing and, should he be found guilty of serious misconduct, he could face a suspension of his medical license.
The case involves a mentally disabled woman who was more than 24 weeks pregnant at the time of the abortion. The abortion was done at Schulberg’s abortion center in Croydon.
But the issues involved are more serious than failing to obtain consent. Schulberg also allegedly failed to contact police to let them know the woman was a rape victim who was legally incapable of consenting to sexual relations.
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