Judge grants woman leave for an abortion

CANTON (AP) -- A judge will allow a psychiatric patient who says she was raped to briefly leave the hospital with a police escort so she can get an abortion.
"I'm not in a position to bar somebody from exercising a right," Stark County Common Pleas Judge John Haas said during a court hearing Friday. "I'm not in a position to encourage it, and I'm not going to prevent it."
The woman, 45, has been at Heartland Behavioral Healthcare in Massillon since June 2005. Haas had ruled the woman was innocent by reason of insanity of stealing a car.
Jean Hemingway, a psychiatrist at Heartland, said the woman is bipolar. Hemingway recommended that the woman be released, but Haas is allowing her only to leave for the medical procedure.
The patient claims she was sexually assaulted at Heartland. She declined to identify who assaulted her and never reported it.
Hemingway said the patient refused to give details on how she became pregnant. The woman had been allowed to receive visitors, Hemingway said.