Pregnant Teen Wins Abortion Battle

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193. Here is some more information.

Both of these were linked to from the Yahoo story but one of them was a bad link. I fixed it.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2013/02/texas-teen-sues-parents-over-abortion-fight/

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=8997504

I think basically all that happened is that the teen got a restraining order against her parents. The order says they can't use physical or verbal threats to try to force her to terminate the pregnancy. There are a lot of allegations against the parents but so far nothing has been proven. It is my understanding that the burden of proof to get a restraining order against someone is extremely low. If they were indeed threatening her (and I don't normally see, "We'll take your phone and car away," as a threat, though I suppose it could be in some circumstances), then I have no problem with the specific injunction. The lawsuit itself has to do with the teen's freedom to make her own decision in this matter, but since the injunction is in effect until the end of her pregnancy, I don't see what the point would be in continuing with the suit except to set precedent. I also think a lot of the information we've been getting so far has been one-sided and provided by a group with an agenda.

I do think this case brings up some interesting issues, such as how a minor's right to make his/her own medical decisions intersects with a parent's right to generally make decisions on behalf of a minor. And how far people can be held responsible for circumstances which they feel they did not create and have no power to control.