The Consequences of Parental Consent Laws: 13 Year Old Performs At-Home Abortion With A Pencil

[imurhuckleberry]

Pennsylvania police in Polk Township have arrested Michael Lisk, 30, and charged him with rape and concealing the death of a child. The Pocono Record has some detail and the Police Criminal Complaint: Michael J. Lisk (PDF File):

State police were alerted to the case on Sunday after staff at Lehigh Valley Hospital treated the girl, who said she conducted the “home abortion” on herself using a lead pencil last Wednesday.

She subsequently became violently ill and began having contractions before ultimately delivering a baby at her residence.

According to the Morning Call, the Monroe County Coroner’s office is indicating that the male fetus was stillborn.

Coroner Dave Thomas ruled the cause of death as intrauterine fetal demise, meaning the fetus died in the uterus during pregnancy and before birth.

The coroner’s office does not rule on the manner of death on a fetus, and will not estimate how far along the girl was before inducing the abortion.

Michael J. Lisk, 30, of Polk Township is charged with raping the girl during a lengthy sexual relationship. He also allegedly retrieved the fetus, in a bag, from a tree where the girl threw it after delivering it on Saturday. He took the bag to Lower Middle Creek Road in the township and buried it there, state police said in an affidavit.

Police said Lisk had been having a sexual relationship with the girl since she was 12.

None of the articles about this horrific story provide any detail about this girl’s parents. One article indicates that her mother phoned Lisk from the hospital to inform him that the police were on their way. We don’t know if this girl’s parents were aware of the relationship with Lisk, or what their response would have been if the girl had gone to them to get the required consent in order to get an abortion. What we do know? This is what happens when a girl under 18 who needs an abortion lives in a state where parental consent is a requirement. This is what happens when the girl is unable to ask her parents for consent – whatever the reason is.

Read more: http://bluewavenews.com/2010/06/15/the-consequences-of-parental-consent-laws-13-year-old-performs-at-home-abortion-with-a-pencil/

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. That poor girl!

[Starry Messenger]

2. Fucking horrible.

That poor girl. This is a country where even people on the so-called "left" call women's health "pelvic issues". Girls like this haven't a chance. :(

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. Anf if they ever manage to make abortion ilegal

this will become even more common.

I practiced my EMS in a country where this was an illegal act, and trust me, this kid was lucky... at multiple levels...

Oh the complications... and I know that those who want this to become illegal don't realize, or don't care, that people die.

[kestrel91316]

9. My dear nadinb, they WANT women to die. Any woman who doesn't WANT

her quiverfull deserves to die in their evil minds.

[Hydra]

4. Theory vs practice

People need to keep their "morals" out of medicine. They think it helps, but it's deadly.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

5. My heart goes out to that unfortunate girl...

I hope she gets into a healthier family and gets help for her trauma...

Damn.

[LisaL]

6. Really? What does it have to do with parental consent laws?

Did the girl even indicate that she didn't seek an abortion because of parental consent laws and not because the father was apparently 30 years old?

[saracat]

7. It seems like a possibility the girl didn't want her parents to know she was pregnant. I wonder if

father was a family friend? Why else would the mother of the girl call him from the hospital?

[LisaL]

8. Because she is a minor, wouldn't any abortion provider

be required to report this to the police? In any case, would it be better for a 13 year old to have an abortion, no questions asked, and then presumably the alleged sexual abuse by an adult male could go on?

[saracat]

10. No. Depends on the state. And in those states where parental consent is not

required, they would perform the abortion. I am sure they would be able to define that there was abuse. I do not think it is better that she risked her life or any young girl or woman should endanger herself and possibly destroy any chance of a "wanted" baby because of parental consent laws and fears of parental reaction. I 100% oppose parental consent laws because the result is stuations similar to this. Another situation is often a step parent is responsible for the rape. Then what happens with those consent laws? Every woman , no matter how young, has the right to make her own decision whether to have a child. Period end of story.

[LisaL]

11. How would they be able to define if there was abuse if

they wouldn't report it to the police? If abortion is performed and nothing is done to report it, then presumably the alleged abuse could continue just as before, and if she gets pregnant again, what then? Another abortion? And so on?

[saracat]

13. Well this case would be rape, so likely, if they could get the girl to make a statement

they would report it. I thought you meant all underage abortions.Not all are the result of rape so i don't think all would be reported. And why would you assume that the abuse would naturally continue? It might or the girl might report the abuse herself, or she might volunteer the information to the provider.But no good would ever come of having her be too afraid to get a legal abortion.Just my opinion.

[LisaL]

14. I see nothing to suggest that in this particular case

she was afraid to get legal abortion because of parental consent, and not because the alleged father is an adult 30 year old male.

[saracat]

15. I don't know either way. It is just a possibility. Many kids would be afraid to tell their parents

had sex with a 30 year old. Its also possible he didn't want her to tell her parents because of statuatory rape charges. Maybe the parental concent law was the reason she did it to herself with a pencil. Maybe that was his idea? Many kids would be afraid to tell their parents they had sex with anyone. Add to that the shame of a rape victim ? Dunno. We don't have all the details.

[tblue37]

18. If a girl younger than the age of consent seeks an abortion, that is evidence that

she was raped, because she was too young to give consent. Abortion providers are required to report evidence of statutory rape in all or most states, I believe.

[petronius]

12. The police report says that it was a friend/neighbor, and that the mother and girl

called him from the hospital after being interviewed by the police. I'd guess that on the mother's part at least it was not a particularly friendly phone calls.

The guy also encouraged the girl to "push hard" to deliver the fetus, and he came to pick it up afterward. It doesn't say if he knew of or encouraged the pencil technique, but if he did I hope it weighs heavily in the sentence...

[notesdev]

16. Doesn't look like the consequences of parental consent laws

Looks to me like it's the consequences of this Lisk guy being a child molester.

This looks to me like a case where the parents definitely should know what's going on.

[TheKentuckian]

17. Since permission to become a mother is irrelevant than so should choosing not to be

Parental consent is an absurd concept in this area, parents are not owners to dictate a fundamental and permanent life decision for two lives.

Parents shouldn't be able to sign to allow a kid to drop out of school or for them to get marries either. Its all fucking stupid.