Straight Up with Sherri

Wednesday, April 27, 2005

Planned Parenthood Gives ILLEGAL Abortion, and Faces Lawsuit

Lawsuit: Teen's abortion illegal

By Luke E. Saladin
Post staff reporter

Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters said on Thursday that his office was investigating whether Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio illegally granted an abortion to a 14-year-old girl without her parents' consent.

In a civil suit filed in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court on March 29, the unnamed parents say that the abortion would not have taken place if the organization had followed its statutory duties and sought consent from the parents for the abortion.

Deters said his office is considering filing civil charges as well. At a minimum, his office would likely file additional felony charges against the 21-year-old man who impregnated her because such a sexual act would have constituted rape under Ohio laws.

In Ohio, any sex by a person under the age of 16 can be considered rape if the perpetrator is over 18. If the victim is under 13 it is automatically rape.

"If a 13-year-old in Ohio is pregnant, a crime has been committed," Deters said. "You can rest assured that this individual is going to face some additional criminal charges."

What isn't known is to what extent liability will fall on Planned Parenthood. Sue Momeyer, president of the Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio region, declined comment Thursday.

She has stated in the past, however, that her agency's policies adhere to Ohio statutes.

According to the civil suit, the girl was 13 when the 21-year-old man impregnated her in December 2003 or January 2004. The man is now serving a prison sentence after he was convicted of sexual battery for having sex with the girl.

All parties in the suit - now under seal - were referred to with a pseudonym to protect their privacy. According to the suit, the man called Planned Parenthood and attempted to arrange an appointment for the girl in March 2004, but the office instructed him that only the girl could make the appointment.

The suit said the man directed her to call and arrange for the abortion the next day.

He drove the girl - who had turned 14 by that time - to the agency's Mount Auburn facility March 30 for the abortion even though the girl "did not want to have the abortion."

Because the man told Planned Parenthood workers he was her stepbrother, the agency didn't contact her parents - even though she gave her father's name and address to the agency, the suit noted.

Performing the abortion without notifying or getting permission from her parents is illegal, the suit says.

The suit seeks unspecified monetary damages in excess of $25,000.

Deters said his office hasn't yet spoken with Planned Parenthood or its workers but intends to do so. He said the office would also investigate whether other similar cases were not reported to police.

"We are proceeding as rapidly as possible and we intend to aggressively research this case," Deters said.


2 Comments:

  • I agree that this definately constitutes rape and that the girl should have the right to proceed with an abortion; however I also think that there should have been further steps required prior to the procedure. Planned Parenthood should have required counseling of the girl and the person who was "trying" to approve of the procedure. I think that this would have eliminated the error of allowing this guy from giving approval since he was not a parent figure. It probably would have also allowed the girl to admit to the actual event and provide support to work through either the decision to have the abortion or other alternatives.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:16 PM  

  • Abortion facilities are the child sexual predator's best friend. There was a case in Maryland where a man had repeatedly raped his daughter and two stepdaughters, procuring a total of ten abortions for the girls to cover up the abuse. The abuse was revealed when one of the girls scrawled "I wish I was dead" on the margin of a test at school and her teacher asked her what was wrong. She spilled her guts. She wanted somebody to care, but the abortion staff only wanted to scrape her out and send her home.

    When I worked at Life Dynamics we got a call from a father who was distraught because his 13-year-old daughter had been sexually assaulted for years by her stepfather and the stepdad had brought her to the same facility for three abortions to keep covering up the abuse. Imagine this girl's ordeal, and her father's frustrated grief and rage. But who's the prochoice movement gonna side with? The abuser. Because he was just helping the victim "exercise her right to choose." What a saint! He was even providing her with a steady stream of pregnancies she could make choices about! He was building her self esteem by empowering her!

    By Blogger Christina Dunigan, at 8:47 PM  

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