Maine backs down in fight to end baby's life

Last week, Maine’s Republican Gov. Paul LePage declared support for a mother in a battle with child welfare officials over a do-not-resuscitate order they imposed on her infant daughter.

“The existing law violates the sanctity of parental rights, and I cannot support it,” said LePage, in a statement released to FoxNews.

Since LePage’s announcement, child welfare officials, who were previously granted authority to make medical decisions for the baby, say they will now defer to the mother. Maine Supreme Court will hear the case later this month.

The 1-year-old baby, Aleah Peaslee, suffered severe injuries, including permanent blindness and brain damage, when her father violently shook her last December. Her then 17-year-old mother, Virginia Trask, was at work at the time.

The incident left Aleah in a coma. Her family, including Trask, initially agreed to a doctor’s recommendation of a do-not-resuscitate (DNR) order. But Trask changed her mind when the baby was taken off life support and placed in her arms to die, but instead opened her eyes and started breathing on her own.

When Trask asked to rescind the DNR order, child welfare officials with Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services appealed to a state judge, claiming resuscitation would only prolong the infant’s pain. The judge gave the officials authority to make medical decisions for Aleah, saying that “neither parent can be counted on to be physically or emotionally available to make the necessary informed decision when needed.”

But Trask’s supporters claim she was never deemed unfit as a parent and therefore should be able to decide whether or not to impose a DNR order.

“Unless a parent is deemed unfit and parental rights are severed, the state should not override a parent’s right to make medical decisions for their own child,” LePage said in his statement.

Attorneys from five organizations, including Alliance Defending Freedom and Concerned Women for America, filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the Maine Supreme Court arguing that state officials unlawfully severed Trask’s parental rights.

“The rights to live and to parent are fundamental to American and Maine law, tradition, and society, and are implicit to ordered liberty,” they write in the brief. They argue that allowing the DNR to stand would most likely end in Aleah’s death, and her mother’s rights would be “de facto and irrevocably terminated in one of the cruelest ways imaginable.”

On Tuesday, Maine’s Health and Human Services (HHS) Department Commissioner Mary Mayhew released a statement reversing the department’s previous stance. She said even if the state Supreme Court decides in the agency’s favor, the HHS will not “exercise that misplaced authority” by imposing a DNR against Trask’s will.

Trask says she still plans to move forward with appeal, according to her attorney, Scott Hess. Oral arguments are scheduled to start on Sept. 23.

The baby’s father, Kevin Peaslee, is scheduled to stand trial in October on charges of aggravated assault.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.