WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., May 3 (UPI) -- State officials have intervened again to stop a 13-year-old Palm Beach County, Fla., foster child from obtaining an abortion.
The state appealed an earlier decision Monday by Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Ronald Alvarez, who said she could end an unwanted pregnancy, The Miami Herald reported Tuesday.
The state's appeal in West Palm Beach came before the girl, identified in court papers as L.G., could act on Alvarez's decision.
Marilyn Munoz, spokeswoman for the Department of Children and Families, quoted state law in a statement released late Monday.
"In no case shall the department consent to sterilization, abortion or termination of life support," it said.
She added that, "The DCF has the custodial responsibility to do what is in the best interest of the child, as state law requires."
L.G. had been in foster care for five years and has run away several times. The last time she ran away, in January, she became pregnant.
