Consequences of Secret Abortions without Notification of Parents or Police

A Planned Parenthood affiliate in Arizona was found civilly liable for failing to report the fact that the clinic had performed an abortion on a 12-year-old girl who had been impregnated by her foster brother. The abortion provider did not report the crime, and the young girl was returned to the foster home where she was raped and impregnated a second time.[1]

 

A 12–year-old, mentally challenged Texas girl was repeatedly sexually assaulted by her mother’s live-in boyfriend. Twice these assaults resulted in the girl becoming pregnant. Both times, the perpetrator forced her to have an abortion. Although both abortions took place at the same clinic, the clinic did not report the abuse until after the second abortion took place. After the crime was uncovered, the perpetrator was sentenced to approximately 30 years in prison. [2]

 

An Oregon abortion clinic provided an abortion to an eleven-year-old, yet failed to report the sexual abuse as required by state law. The abuse was disclosed to law enforcement only because the abortion was incomplete and the girl was subsequently taken to the hospital where a doctor reported the  abuse.[3]

 

In Connecticut the case of a ten-year-old girl who was impregnated by a seventy-five-year-old man went unreported. The child was examined by two physicians, but neither reported the sexual abuse to public authorities as required by Connecticut law.[4]

 

A thirty-six-year-old Nebraska man went so far as to impersonate the father of the sixteen-year-old girl he had impregnated in an attempt to obtain an abortion, and thus hide any evidence of their illegal relationship.[5]

 

A 12-year-old Pennsylvania girl was provided alcohol by an adult male who then raped her while she was unconscious. Days after her 13th birthday, the perpetrator’s mother took her to an abortion clinic in another state, paid for the abortion, and then dropped her off 30 miles away from home. Meanwhile, the girl’s mother had contacted the state police when she found her daughter was missing. The police located the girl, who was suffering severe post-abortion complications, complications which could have led to her death had she not been returned to her mother, who quickly arranged for her treatment by a local gynecologist.[6]

 

A father in California came home unexpectedly early from work one day to find his 15-year-old daughter had tried to commit suicide by drug overdose. Only in that way did he learn that the girl had been impregnated by her 33-year-old karate instructor. When this predator found out his victim was pregnant, he told her he would commit suicide if she didn’t have an abortion. So, against her wishes and her deeply held belief that abortion was murder, she had the abortion. Because of the grief and guilt she attempted suicide. Had her father not come home earlier than usual that day, she would have succeeded.[7]

 

A 13-year-old Ohio girl was impregnated by her high school coach, who then “persuaded” her to have an abortion. Planned Parenthood did not report the abuse, nor did it comply with the state’s own parental notification law. Three days after the abortion, the perpetrator resumed having sex with the girl, and then abandoned her. Only months later did the parents learn what had happened. The perpetrator is serving a prison sentence; Planned Parenthood disclaims all responsibility and is fighting a lawsuit by the parents.[8]



[1] Jane Doe v. Planned Parenthood of Central and Northern Ariz.,  et al., No. CV 2001-014876, Order of Partial Summary Judgment  (Superior Ct., Ariz., Cty. of Maricopa, Nov. 26, 2002).Glendale Teen Files Lawsuit Against Planned Parenthood, ARIZ.  REPUBLIC, Sept. 2,2001, at B3, and  Arizona Trial Judge Concludes Planned Parenthood Negligently Failed To Report Abortion, HEALTH L. WK., Jan. 10, 2003, at 7.


[2] Brief of Amicus Curiae Harlon Reeves in Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, U.S. Supreme Court No, 04-1144. Available at www.yeson85.net .


[3] Inara Verzemnieks, Child’s Abortion: No Alarm Bells?, OREGONIAN, Mar.  11, 1997 (reporting failure of abortion clinic to report sexual abuse of eleven-year-old impregnated by forty-one-year-old live-in-lover of child’s mother).


[4] Christine Walsh, Conn. Doc Set to Be Cleared in Abuse Case, INDIA NEW  ENGLAND, Jan. 15, 2003, (discussing the role the doctors played in the abuse  case); Colin Poitras, Failure to Report Pregnancy Brings Charges, HARTFORD  COURANT, Apr. 27, 2002, at A1; John Christoffersen, Medical Society Urges Dismissal of Charges Against Bridgeport Doctor, ASSOCIATED PRESS, Aug. 21, 2002;  Christa Lee Rock, Doctors Want Case Dropped, NEW HAVEN REG., Aug. 23, 2002.;  Colin Poitras, Charges Against Doctors Let Stand in Child’s Case, HARTFORD  COURANT, Sept. 24, 2001, at B1; Doctors to Stand Trial for not Reporting Abuse,  Referring for Abortion, ASSOCIATED PRESS, Sept. 26, 2002; Daniel Tepfer, Man, 75,  Admits He Fathered Girl’s Baby, CONN. POST, Oct. 9, 2002.


[5] Angie Brunkow, Man Who Said He Was Girl’s Dad Sentenced, OMAHA  WORLD-HERALD, June 14, 2000, at 20.


[6] Child Custody Protection Act: Hearing on H.R. 3682 Before the Subcomm. on the Const. of the H. Comm. on the Judiciary, 105th Cong. (1998) (testimony of Joyce Forley)


[7] Audio testimony of father, available at www.yeson85.net/audio.aspx


[8] Roe v. Planned Parenthood of Greater Cincinnati, See. e.g., Judge: Turn over abortion files

 

 
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