According to reports (http://www.lifenews.com/2015/09/10/child-protective-services-forcing-raped-10-year-old-girl-to-have-an-abortion/) a ten year old who has suffered the trauma of rape will now be forced to undergo that of abortion - apparently without any consideration of whether a healthy delivery is medically possible, or whether she might have wanted to keep her baby. As a minor, the girl is unable to give or withhold consent in law (she isn't old enough to "own her body and her uterus"), so, having allegedly been violated by 20 year old Justin Smith, she will now be violated again by having her unborn child killed, on the basis of parental consent said to have been given under pressure by her mother, who was apparently afraid that she would not be allowed custody of her own children if she refused to sign.
Please sign this petition if you believe that young women in this dreadful situation should
- Be given equal access both to pregnancy support services and (if they wish) abortion services;
- Be provided with a genuinely neutral counsellor/advocate;
- Have access to a transparent decision-making process which takes account of their level of emotional maturity, without using it as a basis for the assumption that abortion is the only way forward.
