Pennsylvania Parents Sue Counselor for Helping Their Daughter Get a Secret Abortion

By Liz Townsend

The parents of a Pennsylvania teenager who said her high school counselor helped her get a secret, out-of-state, second-trimester abortion filed suit August 16 against the counselor and the school district for violating their parental rights.

Pennsylvania's 1989 Abortion Control Act requires teens to notify their parents before an abortion or appear before a judge to bypass the requirement. Howard and Marie Carter of Hatboro, Pennsylvania, allege in the suit that William Hickey, the guidance counselor at Hatboro-Horsham High School, helped arrange their daughter's abortion at a New Jersey clinic in May 1998 and urged the girl to keep it a secret from her parents. New Jersey has no parental notification requirement.

At the time of the abortion, the girl was a junior. The Washington Times reported that she graduated last June and has recently started college.

The suit alleges that when the teenager told Hickey that she was conflicted about the abortion decision, he told her, "Welcome to the adult world" and "Someday you'll look back on this and laugh." Hickey also allegedly obtained a marketing brochure from Cherry Hill, New Jersey, abortion clinic, according to the complaint.

"It is outrageous how far those who advocate abortion will go to undermine parental rights," said Mary Spaulding Balch, director of NRLC's State Legislative Department. "Instead of ensuring that the 17-year-old got proper counseling, she ended up with a dead baby."

The Carters moved from Murfreesboro, Tennessee, to Pennsylvania in January 1998, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. Stephanie Carter enrolled in Hatboro-Horsham High School as a junior.

She found out she was pregnant in April, and reportedly sought advice from Hickey more than 10 times. The Carters allege that Hickey told their daughter an abortion was "her only choice," according to a press release from the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), a pro-life group giving legal assistance to the Carters.

The lawsuit also alleges that Hickey used the school district's bank accounts to cash checks from the baby's father, who lived in Tennessee, to finance the abortion; provided excuses so Stephanie could skip school; and drew her a map to the New Jersey clinic, the Associated Press reported.

"It's unconscionable," ACLJ attorney John Stepanovich told the Times, "a monumental intrusion into the parent-child relationship."

Stephanie's parents found out about the abortion only after finding soiled clothes and abortion pamphlets in her closet a few weeks later, the Inquirer reported.

The Carters filed the suit in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia, charging that Hickey, an employee of a public school, "position[ed] himself as a government wedge between Plaintiffs and their minor daughter," according to the complaint.

"This case clearly shows that pro-lifers need to continue fighting for the rights of unborn babies, their young mothers, and their grandparents even after protective laws are in effect," said Balch. "The only good result pro-abortionists can see in such cases is a dead baby. It is so sad that a 17-year-old girl is the one who has to live with this for the rest of her life."