Involuntary Abortion
Hi there,
A really shocking guardianship case was overturned by the Appeals Court last week. This kind of sad family problem can come up in divorce cases more frequently than in the general population because parents with disabled children are statistically more likely to divorce. My very able colleagues, Lisa Cukier and Tiffany Howard, kindly agreed to write a post for me on it. Read below and be amazed at what the courts can do...
A recent Appeals Court decision has the community buzzing about what laws are in place to protect a disabled adult’s right to make fundamental decisions for herself and under what circumstances a Court may override those decisions.
As described in this Boston Globe article, “Mary Moe” is a thirty-two year old pregnant woman who suffers from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. This pregnancy is Moe’s third, with one prior pregnancy having ended in abortion and another having produced a son who is in the custody of Moe’s parents. Despite conclusive medical evidence to the contrary, Moe has denied her current pregnancy and refused obstetric care. The Department of Mental Health (“DMH”) filed a Guardianship Petition seeking the appointment of Moe’s parents to act on her behalf for purposes of consenting to an abortion. It was clear that Moe lacked mental capacity to either refuse or give informed consent to an abortion.
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