The parents of a pregnant 16-year-old in Texas are being sued by their daughter because she says that they are trying to force her to have an abortion, according to KPLR 11. The case will be heard at the Harris County Civil Courthouse. In the lawsuit, the teen claims that she is being coerced to have an abortion against her wishes.
The teenager is two months into her pregnancy and is being represented by lawyers from the Texas Center for Defense of Life. A temporary restraining order to save the life of the baby was granted by a judge.
“We were asking judge to stop them from physically forcing her to have an abortion. She is legally protected, so they cannot drag her to an abortion clinic and force an abortion on our client.” said Attorney Stephen Casey.
In the lawsuit, the teenager claims alleged verbal abuse by her parents. The lawsuit claims that her mother, quote, “Invited the paternal grandparents to a bar for further discussion, where she suggested that she might slip her an abortion pill through deception.”
In the lawsuit, her father also reportedly said to her, “He was going to force her to have an abortion and that the decision was his, end of story.”
Despite being a teenager, she has the power to make the decision herself.
“What Roe established, and the cases after that, was that a minor has an absolutely right to make her choice. And what’s revealing is, a lot of times, when people say, I do want to make the choice, people are shocked when they want to choose to carry the baby.” said Attorney Stephen Casey.
Another hearing was scheduled for today and the father of the teen says that the allegations against him and the teen’s mother are false. He told local media outlets that he thinks someone put his daughter up to filing the lawsuit.