Alleged Incest Victim, 12, Can Get Late-Term Abortion, Judge Rules

A judge cleared the way Friday for parents to go out of state to get a late-term abortion for their 12-year-old daughter, who allegedly was impregnated by her 17-year-old brother.

Probate Judge Pamela Gilbert O’Sullivan granted a prosecutor’s request to withdraw a petition to take temporary custody of the girl. The petition, which the judge granted last week, had barred the parents from taking their daughter to a Kansas abortion clinic until she underwent a psychological evaluation.

Since then, the girl has received mental health and medical evaluations, and she and her parents received counseling.

The girl is about 28 weeks’ pregnant. Abortion is illegal in Michigan after the 24th week unless the mother’s life is endangered, but Kansas permits it under certain other circumstances.

The parents’ attorney, Lauren Tomayko, said the parents and the girl will go to Kansas so she can be evaluated for an abortion. She declined to say if the girl would have an abortion. That decision will be made after the family meets with experts at the clinic, she said.

The parents and experts in Michigan who have seen the girl in the last week agree an abortion appears to be in her best interest, Tomayko said.

The girl’s parents have said they did not learn until July 6 that she was pregnant.

The medical risks of letting the pregnancy continue to term are higher than the risks of a late-term abortion, said Dr. Mark Evans, a Wayne State University medical professor who told the girl and her family about their options.

The judge turned down an Oakland County lawyer’s last-minute request to be appointed guardian for the girl’s fetus.