subgenius
17th May 2003, 01:12 AM
ORLANDO -- Gov. Jeb Bush ordered state lawyers Tuesday to seek the appointment of a guardian for the 6-month-old fetus of a mentally disabled woman who was raped, overruling child welfare officials who said such an appointment would be illegal.
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The 22-year-old woman has no family, is too disabled to speak and cannot help police find who raped her. She has lived at a small southwest Orlando facility for 19 years.
DCF officials filed an emergency petition last week, asking an Orange County circuit judge to assign protective supervision for the woman, continue her around-the-clock care and determine her current health status -- plus appoint guardians for her and the child, although no one has publicly suggested that an abortion be performed.The Florida Supreme Court ruled in a landmark 1989 abortion-rights case that the appointment of a legal guardian for a fetus was "clearly improper," but justices did not elaborate.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orange/orl-news-dcfbaby051303,0,4873976.story
A tragic situation.
I have to admit that I don't have enough facts or law to have an opinion on Bush's action.
.....
The 22-year-old woman has no family, is too disabled to speak and cannot help police find who raped her. She has lived at a small southwest Orlando facility for 19 years.
DCF officials filed an emergency petition last week, asking an Orange County circuit judge to assign protective supervision for the woman, continue her around-the-clock care and determine her current health status -- plus appoint guardians for her and the child, although no one has publicly suggested that an abortion be performed.The Florida Supreme Court ruled in a landmark 1989 abortion-rights case that the appointment of a legal guardian for a fetus was "clearly improper," but justices did not elaborate.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orange/orl-news-dcfbaby051303,0,4873976.story
A tragic situation.
I have to admit that I don't have enough facts or law to have an opinion on Bush's action.