Without issuing an opinion on the merits, the Alabama Supreme Court Friday reinstated a lawsuit brought by the parents of a minor girl who allege that the parents of their daughter’s former boyfriend took their daughter to New York in 2011 for an abortion without their knowledge.
The suit was brought in 2014, after the parents found out about their daughter’s secret abortion. However, ”Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge Caryl Privett, who has since retired, had dismissed all but one claim (fraud) in the case because of the two-year statute of limitations had run out,” according to reporter Kent Faulk.
The parents of the girl sued the defendants, alleging negligence, interference with parental rights, the tort of outrage, and fraud.
“The dismissal of the plaintiffs’ claims on statute-of-limitations grounds was, at this stage of the proceedings, error,” the Alabama Supreme Court stated in its opinion. “Accordingly, we reverse the order of dismissal and remand the case for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.”
Quoting from the justices’ ruling, Faulk wrote:
“In December 2011, the defendants (boyfriend’s parents) sought the permission of the plaintiffs to take the plaintiffs’ daughter on a trip to New York, purportedly to see Broadway shows and to meet some of (the boyfriend’s) family.”
“According to the plaintiffs, however, the true purpose for the trip was for `the plaintiffs’ minor daughter to obtain an abortion in New York, a state that had not enacted a parental-notification law applicable to minors seeking an abortion” …
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The plaintiffs claimed that upon returning from New York, their daughter began acting “distantly,” began using drugs, and ultimately dropped out of school, according to the supreme court’s ruling. “In or around May 2013, after the plaintiffs had allegedly gone ‘to great lengths to help her,’ without success, the plaintiffs’ daughter disclosed the true circumstances of the December 2011 trip to New York.”
The attorney for the girls’ parents, who were identified only as “EL and EL,” said he was pleased the state Supreme Court allowed the case to go forward.
“The parents of the young girl are a Christian couple and due to their religious beliefs, values and morals would have counseled their daughter to keep the baby,” Freddy Rubio said. “But due to the lies and deceit from the defendants, the Limon’s were denied from the opportunity of properly advising their daughter and having their first grandchild.”
LifeNews.com Note: Dave Andrusko is the editor of National Right to Life News and an author and editor of several books on abortion topics. This post originally appeared in at National Right to Life News Today —- an online column on pro-life issues.
