A fortnight ago, Judge William P. Sargeant of Maricopa County Juvenile Court, ordered government employees to transport the teen girl to any state where late-term abortion is legal. Calling the pregnancy one resulting from statutory rape, the judge ordered the use of federal dollars. Arizona has no statutory rape law. Sexual conduct with a minor is a crime, but it is not rape unless lack of consent is established. Inasmuch as this incorrigible carries her boyfriend's child, no police report was forwarded for prosecution.
Shakespearean woe abounds.
This child has been in the government system since she was 5, her mother died in January and her father is in prison. Because of a skillful propensity to run away, she resides at the youth correctional facility. In the chief judge's press release of revelations to seal the case record, we learn she used drugs during her pregnancy. The village failed miserably with this child. Hard cases make bad law, but arrogant judges, social workers and guardian ad litems make worse.