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A pregnant 12-year-old girl has been forced to go through the Supreme Court for permission to have an abortion.

A court has accepted that the girl, only identified as Q, could have the procedure for her “mental and physical health”, the Brisbane Times reports.

The 12-year-old first went to her GP to seek permission for an abortion about a month ago. She has also seen a social worker several times, two specialist obstetricians, and a psychiatrist.

The court heard that the girl had found the pregnancy very stressful and had self-harmed, ran away from home and attempted suicide.

Both of her parents agreed that having an abortion would be the best thing for her and medical professionals agreed.

Justice Duncan McMeekin accepted that Q was mature enough to grant consent and the abortion was necessary “in order to avoid danger to her mental and physical health”.

In his judgement he wrote unless a child was found to be “mature” their parents could give consent on the child’s behalf but he said when it came to abortion parental consent was “arguably not sufficient”.

“I was principally concerned that it was her own view that she expressed, not a view that she felt she ought to hold because of any perception of pressure from others,” Justice McMeekin wrote.”

“I am satisfied that Q has reached her own independent view of what she thinks is the best decision to take.”

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  • I hope she will be ok, what a stressful position to be in.

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  • Poor girl. Hope she has ongoing support.

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  • Wow the poor girl still can’t believe it’s illegal in qld

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  • This would make a traumatic time even worse. There must be a better way.

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  • This whole thing is seriously disturbing. I could not even imagine what being pregnant at 12 would be like for a start!

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  • It’s difficult because what if she was only aborting because of perceived pressure from others? That would be worse for her mental state than going through court. I hope she gets the care she needs to nurture her through this tricky time

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  • This story us so distressing to me! Not only is this poor child coming to terms with being pregnant at age 12, but the situation is dragged out by the court insisting she legally ask for permission fir an abortion :/

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  • Given the fact that she has already self harmed, and a physciatrist is involved in her care, she could try to abort it herself and commit suicide in the process.
    It used to be illegal for a girl that young to have sex anyway. I personally know a girl who checked the law before she and her boyfriend started a sexual relationship.

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  • Was it really necessary to go to the Supreme Court for an abortion?

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  • This poor child.
    Im not sure why it requires such a drama of the courts, etc….couldnt something like this simply be granted via a Doctor based on her age?

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  • She is 12, who in their right minds would think this child would be ready for motherhood.

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  • This whole scenario is disturbing. I wonder how a 12 year old’s body would cope with a full pregnancy and birth.

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  • I find this puts me in two minds. I am against abortion, I think that if this child was capable of making the choices to have sex and it has resulted in pregnancy then the option there is for adoption if neither of the grandparents wishes to help. The mental anguish of an abortion on someone of the age of 12 cannot be established. It wasn’t that long ago that most countries had girls at 12 married and having babies. (I don’t agree with it, but it was commonly believed that they were of breeding age so marriage and babies it was). Hopefully, the parents become alot more involved in their childs life and this doesn’t happen again soon.

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  • Abortion is still taking a life in a certain way. I’m glad that taking a life is not seen as light as it is in some other countries and I think it’s good that somebody with authority (the judge) looked into the matter to distinguish if this 12 year old girl could make this decision herself. And that specialist obstetricians, a psychiatrist and social services were looking with her into that. I agree that a 12 year old is to young to parent, but I also think an abortion can be traumatic for such a young girl. Adoption would also be an option.

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  • I think that it’s for the best in this case. Pregnancy(and child birth) at that age would be incredibly traumatic

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