MEMPHIS - A pregnant teenager went to the grand and imposing county courthouse here early in the summer, saying she wanted an abortion. The circuit court judge refused to hear the case, and he announced that he would recuse himself from any others like it.
"Taking the life of an innocent human being is contrary to the moral order," the judge, John R. McCarroll of Shelby County Circuit Court, wrote in June. "I could not in good conscience make a finding that would allow the minor to proceed with the abortion."
The teenager was in court because Tennessee, like 18 other states, requires minors to obtain a parent's permission before they can have an abortion.
But the state also allows another option. The teenagers can ask a judge for permission to decide for themselves.
Judges, however, are starting to opt out. Other judges of the Shelby Circuit Court have recused themselves like Judge McCarroll, and now, according to one judge, only four of the nine judges on the court hear such abortion applications.
Judges in Alabama and Pennsylvania have also said they will not take such cases.
Details here from the New York Times.