A Florida Circuit Court judge ruled on Tuesday that a 13-year-old Florida girl could terminate an unwanted pregnancy. Florida Governor Jeb Bush announced that the state would not make any further appeals in the matter.

Judge Ronald Alvarez lifted the stay that prevented health officials from taking the girl, who is in foster care and therefore a ward of the state, to a clinic to get the procedure done. The girl, whose name is being withheld because of her age, is estimated to be 14 weeks pregnant. In the court papers, she is known only as 'L.G.'

'As the days go by, the circumstances become more compelling and the further delay further puts this child's life at risk,' Alvarez said when rendering his decision.

The girl's attorney, Maxine Williams, told reporters, 'Hopefully, she will be able to go forward and make her choice. It's going to be imminent, very soon.'

The judge ruled that the girl was competent to make a decision about whether or not to have an abortion and that her right to make that decision was protected under the state's constitution.

Judge Alvarez also wanted to know why the state agencies hadn't done more to prevent L.G.'s pregnancy in the first place. 'Where are our priorities in life?' the Associated Press quoted him as asking.

Howard Simon of the Florida chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union told reporters, 'This is another instance in which state government, under the leadership of our governor, is attempting to frustrate decisions that are made within what should be a zone of personal privacy.'

This is not the first time Florida Governor Jeb Bush has intervened in similar type cases. Bush previously attempted to have Florida courts appoint a guardian for the fetus of a disabled woman who was raped in a group home and also stepped in to the Terry Schiavo case to prevent Schiavo's feeding tube from being removed. Both efforts were unsuccessful.