This is so bizarre. A court in Britain has said that a woman with developmental disabilities will be forced to have an abortion.
No matter what side of the abortion debate you’re on, I would hope that rational people can agree that this is a horrific combination of state power and abortion mania.
From the Catholic News Agency:
A British judge has authorized doctors to perform an abortion on a pregnant Catholic woman with developmental disabilities and a mood disorder, despite the objections of the woman’s mother and the woman herself. The woman is 22 weeks pregnant.
“I am acutely conscious of the fact that for the State to order a woman to have a termination where it appears that she doesn’t want it is an immense intrusion,” said Justice Nathalie Lieven in her ruling in the Court of Protection, June 21.
“I have to operate in [her] best interests, not on society’s views of termination,” Lieven explained, arguing that her decision is in the best interest of the woman.
The Court of Protection handles cases involving individuals judged to lack the mental capacity to make decisions for themselves.
The woman, who cannot been publicly identified, has been described as “in her twenties,” and is under the care of an NHS trust, part of the UK’s National Health Service.
So here is their reasoning – they say that an abortion will be less traumatic for the woman than a birth:
Doctors at the trust wished to abort her pregnancy and argued that, due to her diminished mental capacity, the abortion would be less traumatic for the woman than giving birth, especially if the baby would then be placed in foster care.
The woman’s mother made clear to doctors and the court that she would assume care of her grandchild.
The woman is believed to have the mental capacity of a grade school-age child. She is reportedly Catholic, and her mother is Nigerian.
This is another key bit of info:
It is unknown if the pregnancy was conceived consensually, and police are investigating the circumstances of conception.
This is rather disturbing all around, but I would think that they could find a better solution than simply killing the baby.