HARRISBURG, PA, Apr 30 (Lifesitenews.com) – The legal arm of the pro-abortion-on-demand movement, the New York-based Center for Reproductive Law and Policy (CRLP), defended in court this week a woman who illegally transported a 13-year-old girl across state lines for an abortion. The trip took place without the knowledge of the girl’s mother.
In October 1996, Rosa M. Hartford of Sullivan County was convicted of interfering with the custody of a minor when she took the young girl, who had been raped at age 12 by her then 18-year-old stepson, to New York where she paid for the abortion of her grandchild.
The case is being heard at the Pensylvania Supreme Court where the CRLP is arguing against the constitutionality of the Pensylvania Abortion Control Act which requires the consent of a parent, legal guardian or judge before a girl aged 17 or younger can obtain an abortion. Pennsylvania Attorney General Mike Fisher has chosen to personally defend the law in court. Fisher has also argued before the US Senate for the Child Custody Protection Act which would make it a federal offense to circumvent the state parental consent law by taking a minor to another state for an abortion. Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the National Organization for Women and the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League have made the defeat of this bill one of their top priorities.
Arguments in the case of Commonwealth V. Hartford were completed Tuesday and a decision by the state Supreme Court is pending. Sean Connolly, Press Secretary of the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General, speaking with LifeSite News about the case, drew attention to the fact that in America today, a 13-year old girl cannot see a restricted movie, get an aspirin from the school nurse, go on a class trip to the zoo or get her ear pierced without the consent of her parents. However, abortion advocates “want us to believe that it is acceptable to take a 13-year-old girl away from her parent and, without her parent’s knowledge or consent, drive the girl to another state to abort her unborn child.”