The Boston Globe
The Massachusetts Appeals Court today reversed a probate judge’s decision to order a schizophrenic woman to undergo an abortion and to then be sterilized, saying the woman had consistently expressed her opposition to the practice as a Catholic. In October, the state Department of Mental Health filed a petition to have the woman’s parents named as guardians for the woman, who is only known as “Mary Moe,’’ so they could give consent for an abortion, according to the court.
Norfolk Probate and Family Court Judge Christina Harms, declared that the 32-year-old woman was not competent to make a decision about an abortion, citing “substantial delusional beliefs,” and concluded she would choose to abort her pregnancy if she were competent.
Earlier this month, Harms ordered that the woman’s parents be appointed as coguardians and that Moe could be “coaxed, bribed, or even enticed ... by ruse” into a hospital where she would be sedated and an abortion would then be performed, the ruling stated.
The judge also ordered the facility that performed the abortion to sterilize the woman “to avoid this painful situation from recurring in the future.”
The Appeal Court’s decision, released today, reversed the sterilization order in unusually strong terms.
“No party requested this measure, none of the attendant procedural requirements has been met, and the judge appears to have simply produced the requirement out of thin air,” wrote Appeals Court Judge Andrew Grainger.
The entire story is here.
