Should this 11-year old girl have this baby? Should her mother force an abortion? Can she? Does the fetus have the right to be born? Should government have the right to force the birth of this baby?
The real question is should the mother be allowed to kill the baby because of the way he/she came into the world. I say no. To deny the personhood of an embryo in the womb is to deny your own humanity.
Morally, I wouldn't want abortion chosen, because the child is innocent. However, legally I wouldn't stop it because the girl was statutorily raped. Having said that, regardless of what happens to the unborn child, I'd take the born child away from her nutcase mother.
I didn't see any mention of the stage of week of pregnancy. This is important information to me. My stance is that I don't support late term abortions. I am not sure 100% where I draw the line but probably anything past 16 weeks. What I did read was a bunch of useless information about the rapist committing other crimes. None of that is relevant but just makes the story more dramatic. 11 years old is old enough to deliver a baby and if the pregnancy is past 16 weeks then I would say yes she needs to have the baby. Then the decision can be made about whether the family will raise the baby or whether the baby will be put up for adoption. Now the other questions is does an 11 year old girl have the ability to make the decision to have an abortion. She is too young to be able to make this decision legally on her own. The mother or guardian must decide. Now I don't think that mother or guardian should be able to force her to have an abortion. If she wants to carry the baby to term then that will happen, but if she wants to have an abortion then the mother/guardian must sign off.
If the fetus is viable outside the womb, it should be protected. Otherwise, the family, screwed up as it is, should decide. No 11-year-old rape victim should be forced to bear a child she is not physically or emotionally prepared to carry to term. No government should have the power to tell her she must.
Good. Then we agree in principle that this decision is very, very private, and should be made by the girl and her (apparently worthless piece of ****) mother. The government has no business being involved on any level, including providing funding to those who would jump in and advocate (pro life or pro choice) nor to those who would provide the abortion should that be the choice made.
I guess I wouldn't go so far as to say an 11-year-old rape victim shouldn't be eligible for state assistance for counseling or whatever her medical decisions might be. Certainly I would hope whoever counsels her would not come in trying to win this poor victim to the position of aborting or bearing a baby. I'm hoping, like a well-trained counselor should, she helps this family apply its own best values to the situation. Were abortion the decision, I think charity, not government, should pick up the tab. If the 11-year-old is eligible for government assistance for maternity and well baby care, I'd hope she gets it.
