(LifeSiteNews) — The parents of a 15-year-old girl who had an abortion in January are suing members of a Virginia abortion center and county social services organization for pressuring their daughter to kill her unborn baby.
Charles Remire Lee Mullins and Randa Diane Hagy, the biological parents of a teenage daughter who aborted her baby against her wishes and without parental knowledge or consent, recently filed a civil lawsuit against employees of Bristol Women’s Health and the Dickenson County Department of Social Services (DSS).
The directors of both organizations and three additional employees are listed as defendants in the case, alongside Bristol Women’s Health, PLLC.
According to the complaint, the teenager — referred to as CRFM to protect her identity as a minor — was “approximately three months pregnant, which pregnancy occurred as a result of a conscious choice of CRFM.” The girl reportedly “intended to take her child to full term.”
Around January 19, a DSS employee “persuaded CRFM that she needed to abort the baby and coordinated an appointment that day” for the girl at the abortion center in Bristol, Virginia. There, the girl “advised Nickles [facility director] that she did not want an abortion, and that she wanted to keep her baby.” The teenager “initially refused to cooperate with any abortion” but eventually “was persuaded” by the staff, despite the fact that she “could not legally consent to abort the baby.”
“Legal consent was never obtained,” the complaint states. “[The defendants] had actual knowledge that CRFM was 15 years of age, that CRFM was 11 weeks or more along in her pregnancy and that no one present could lawfully provide consent for the abortion, and notwithstanding this actual knowledge, [the defendants] took collective actions to insure [sic] that the baby was aborted, all in violation of the Plaintiffs rights.”
Although the girl had “informed her mother that she did not want to abort her baby,” the DSS pressured her to do so and then “failed to notify the parents.” The 11-week child was killed by means of medication. One drug was used to murder the baby and two others were used to induce labor to remove the body from the mother. This abortion method is not legal beyond 11 weeks’ gestation. However, the complaint states that “the ultrasound performed at the abortion clinic on CRFM does not definitively establish that the medications should have ever been ordered.”
Following the “misconduct of its employee” who brought the girl to the abortion facility, the DSS and its director “failed to provide medical records of the abortion to the parents, despite multiple written requests.”
The complaint emphasized that the teenager now faces “long-term physical and emotional negative effects,” including risks of ectopic pregnancy, infertility, hemorrhage, and depression, “all as a proximate cause of the unlawful non-consensual” abortion.
Additionally, the complaint argues that “Mullins and Hagy are entitled to be fully and fairly compensated” for the damage inflicted upon their daughter and “the interference of their parental rights.”
The plaintiffs are seeking compensatory and punitive damages totaling $5.4 million.
Virginia law requires that a minor must have consent from a parent or legal guardian before having an abortion. An exception may be made for specific, reviewed situations, granting a minor a judicial bypass to this requirement. However, the plaintiffs’ attorney, Timothy McAfee, told LifeSiteNews that such an exception was “absolutely not” in place in this case. Instead, parental rights and consent laws were completely disregarded.
McAfee explained that the state “has enacted a statute that identifies who can provide consent for an abortion.” Most of the time, this responsibility falls onto parents or legal guardians, but can also be granted through a court order or by petitioning a judge to approve a special case. He added that Virginia’s “regulation scheme that pertains to this issue” and a local department policy “dealing with any form of significant medical care” were both violated.
LifeSiteNews contacted the offices of Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, Attorney General Jason Miyares, and Jeanne Mancini of the March for Life for comment but did not immediately receive responses.
Diane Derzis, the abortion facility’s owner, declined to comment on the lawsuit.
This is not the first time that Bristol Women’s Health has been the center of controversy in southwest Virginia. In December, the newly opened abortion facility was sued by its landlords, who claimed that they were unaware they were leasing space that would be used to kill the unborn. Defendants have requested a dismissal of the case and the first hearing is scheduled for April 3.
In October, Bristol’s city council unanimously voted to pass a zoning resolution to prohibit the establishment of any new abortion facilities within city limits. While further steps are necessary before the motion becomes law, it paves the way for banning the expansion of abortion centers from neighboring states into the city. The Bristol city limits cross over the Virginia border into Tennessee, a state that bans abortion throughout pregnancy as soon as a heartbeat is detected. If passed, the zoning resolution would prohibit facilities in Tennessee from moving their business across the border, where it is legal to murder the unborn.
Virginia law currently enables abortion on demand up until roughly 26 weeks. While Youngkin and Miyares have both consistently supported pro-life legislation, the state Senate is controlled by Democrats who are set on blocking bills designed to protect the unborn. During the current legislative session, all pro-life bills passed by the Republican-led House of Delegates have failed to pass in the Senate.
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