Italy Judge Orders 13 Year-Old to Have Abortion

In Italy the parents decide whether their child can keep the baby or be forced to have an abortion:

An Italian judge has ordered a thirteen year-old girl to have an abortion because her parents are opposed to their daughter giving birth. The decision relies on laws in Italy that allow parents to make the pregnancy decisions for their teenage children.

The girl, from Torino, did not want to have an abortion but the ruling will compel her to do so.

The Italian newspaper La Stampa reports the decision has caused the teenager so much stress she has contemplated suicide and needed to receive psychological help as a result.

The unnamed girl became pregnant after have sexual relations with her 15 year-old boyfriend but she decided the best course of action was keeping the baby.

There have been cases in America where parents have forced their children to have an abortion.

In one case in Maine, Nicholas and Lola Kampf were charged with kidnapping on allegations that they bound their 19 year-old pregnant daughter Katelyn at gunpoint and put her in the car to take her to New York for an abortion.

Needing to go to the bathroom, Katelyn escaped at a local department store and used her parents' cell phone to call police.

The Kampfs face 30 years in prison if convicted, though prosecutors said they are not going to press for a full jail sentence.

In Georgia, police arrested Rozelletta Blackshire after she and her daughters' cousins tried to force the 16 year-old to drink turpentine to cause an abortion.

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When my husband volunteered at a crisis pregnancy center, he told me that many of the girls he saw wanted to keep the baby but there was usually someone in their life who didn't want them to have it, either a mother or boyfriend. So much for choice.