A teenager in Corpus Christi, Texas, is suing her family, claiming they are trying to force her to have an abortion.
The 14-year-old girl is 10 weeks pregnant and wants to carry her child to term, says her attorney.
According to sources, the teenager sought legal help, from an attorney she saw advertising on television, after she was allegedly physically and verbally assaulted by her grandmother and two cousins.
The cousins are accused in the suit of physically abusing the girl. The grandmother is accused of verbally abusing the girl and scheduling an appointment for an abortion without the teenager’s permission.
The teenager’s lawyers were able to get an emergency restraining before the scheduled abortion.
One of the cousins is also accused in the suit of threatening the girl.
Reportedly, “the girl was grabbed by the neck, hit across the face, and thrown into a car in addition to the verbal abuse,” said Stephen Casey, the teenager’s lawyer, who refused to release the girl’s name.
Stephen Casey is with the Texas Center for Defense of Life, a nonprofit organization that provides legal representation to pro-life organizations and residents in Texas and who has tried similar cases before.
“This is a highly under-reported situation,” Casey said. “If a woman has a constitutional right to an abortion under Roe v Wade, then she has a constitutional right to keep her child.” Roe v Wage is a reference to the Supreme Court case extending to women the right to decide to have an abortion.
Judge Missy Medary with the 347th District Court in Corpus Christi removed the teenager from her grandmother’s home, appointed a guardian, and the girl now lives with an unnamed relative.
Casey says the girl’s goal is to be able to carry her baby to term and to then decide what options there are for them. The baby’s father agrees, he said.
“She hasn’t finalized her decision whether it is adoption or to keep it, that’s the second or third step at this point,” Casey said.
In the meantime, the retraining order prevents the girl’s grandmother, who is reportedly her legal guardian, from threatening, harassing, or physically forcing her into having an abortion.
–Should the grandmother, who is the girl’s legal guardian, be allowed to decide whether this 14-year-old should have an abortion; or should the court be able to force the grandmother to take care of the girl and her baby?
