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Prosecution of charity ruled out in abortion case

By Julia Duin (Contact) | Tuesday, July 8, 2008

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The Virginia Commonwealth's Attorney for Richmond says he will not prosecute a local Catholic charity for violating the state's parental-notification law after four of its employees helped a 16-year-old get an abortion in January.

Despite a pending federal investigation, Commonwealth's Attorney Michael N. Herring said Monday that a 2003 law may not have been violated by a social worker at Catholic Charities of Richmond (CCR). State law allows for someone "in loco parentis" to stand in place of the grandparent or adult sibling as a substitute for a missing parent, he said.

"I want to meet with the person who signed the consent form," said Mr. Herring, a Democrat who took office in 2006.

"It's going to be up to her and her counsel, if she has one, to waive her Fifth Amendment rights to sit down with me," he said, referring to the social worker who signed the consent form. "I want to understand her state of mind. Did the staff worker assume he or she was standing in loco parentis?"

The staff worker, who was fired along with three other employees for outfitting the girl with a contraceptive device late last year and then arranging for an abortion on Jan. 18, could not be reached for comment.

The girl, who is from Guatemala and whose parents are missing, was a ward of the federal government's Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which had contracted with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' (USCCB) Office of Refugee Programs to provide foster care for the girl.

HHS' position is that the staffer who signed the consent form violated Virginia's parental-notification law on minors having abortions, a Class 3 misdemeanor punishable by a $500 fine.

HHS spokesman Kenneth J. Wolfe said Monday that David H. Siegel, acting director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) at HHS´ Administration for Children and Families, is the girl's guardian and the only person who could have allowed an abortion.

An April 23 letter from Mr. Siegel to the USCCB called the abortion "a criminal act" or a "violation of Virginia law" three times. The matter is being inspected by the HHS inspector general.

Mr. Herring said no federal agency has contacted him.