Quote of note:

Throughout Monday, Department of Children & Families officials, who have vigorously fought the girl's effort to terminate her pregnancy, declined to talk.

In a statement released at 8 p.m., the DCF's West Palm Beach spokeswoman, Marilyn Munoz, quoted from a state law: ''In no case shall the department consent to sterilization, abortion or termination of life support.'' Munoz added: ``The DCF has the custodial responsibility to do what is in the best interest of the child, as state law requires.''

Translation: Fuck all judges.

State again halts teen's abortion
A Palm Beach County judge ruled that a 13-year-old foster child is free to end an unwanted pregnancy, but state officials again intervened before she could act.
BY CAROL MARBIN MILLER

A 13-year-old Palm Beach County foster child at the center of a legal battle over her right to end an unwanted pregnancy got permission from a judge Monday to get an abortion -- but was thwarted shortly afterward when state child-welfare officials appealed.

Palm Beach Circuit Judge Ronald Alvarez, who only last week temporarily blocked the girl's decision to terminate her pregnancy, ruled late Monday that the teenager may obtain an abortion, said Maxine Williams, the girl's attorney at Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County. The girl is identified in court papers only as L.G.

''Judge Alvarez did issue an order saying she is competent,'' said Howard Simon, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, which also represents the girl. ``She has made a decision. She has a right to exercise that decision. And, acting on her decision is in her best interests.''