|
A young, 16 year old girl from China wanted an abortion but could not get her mother's consent, so she went to the practice that is the subject of the series to get a court approval. (They used a legal term that I cannot recall now).
The senior partner, Shirley Schmidt, a woman who, apparently had abortions and also a child of her own, was hesitant to be a co-chair. She kinda agreed with the mother that every woman who underwent abortion has never fully recovered from it - emotionally.
They appeared before a woman judge to present their case. The mother continued saying that she knew her daughter better than anyone else, better than the girl herself. The girl was very poised and articulate, talking about what would happen to her if "she" were born (the fetus), about how teen mothers are destined to be poor and on welfare.
Then Shirley starts doing research to find out that in China and in India, abortions are being done to select males only. Also that even in this countries, there are a lot more boys than girls being born to American of Chinese descent, and she asked the girl about it, since she referred to her fetus as a "she."
As the judge was reaching a verdict to allow the girl to go ahead, "Shirley" tried to express her objections for the reason the girl wanted the abortion, saying that "choice was supposed to have liberated women, not obliterate them."
The judge, however, expressed her dismay that women (and girls) who choose to terminate their pregnancies would have to jump over one more hurdle: "explaining" their reasons. "Do you really want to go there," the judge asked "Shirley." And the petition was granted.
|