By Dave Andrusko
On Wednesday, a pregnant prisoner who had gone to court to get a restraining order to force authorities to allow her to leave jail to have an abortion changed her mind.
In a sworn statement on behalf of a young woman known only as “Jane Doe,” she wrote, “After much consideration and counsel, I … have decided that I no longer desire to pursue an abortion procedure and intend to carry the unborn child to full term and birth,” the Associated Press’ Jay Reeves reported.
Seemingly that was the end of the case of “Jane Doe.”
Not so, U.S. District Judge Abdul Kallon decided he wanted to hear directly from the young woman, so he ordered Lauderdale County authorities to have the woman in his Huntsville courtroom this morning.
The hearing went on for 90 minutes. This afternoon Judge Kallon dismissed her lawsuit against Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton after the woman said in open court that she no longer wanted to get an abortion and wanted to dismiss the lawsuit.
“She went on to say she was in no way coerced or promised anything to make this decision,” according to reporter Tom Smith. “This morning’s hearing came after the legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama said the circumstances surrounding the inmate’s decision to change her mind about the abortion were ‘suspicious.’”
The Lauderdale County District Attorney had opposed the woman’s request. Chris Connolly asked a juvenile court judge to terminate her parental rights, saying Tuesday that “Our position is if the termination for parental rights is granted, is that (the mother) would not have standing to obtain the abortion.”
Connolly told the AP via an email that he “filed the request on the state’s behalf.”
Randall Marshall, legal director of the ACLU of Montgomery, who represented “Jane Doe” in a federal court case, countered, “Even if the (termination of parental rights) petition goes forward, it cannot override a favorable decision from Judge Kallon.” He added, “It is her constitutional right [to have an abortion].”
In her lawsuit, the inmate said she was in the first trimester of her pregnancy. She said she learned of her pregnancy before she was sent to jail but was unable to obtain an abortion.
There was no explanation in court papers why the woman was in jail but Connolly said she is an adult.