Richmond's commonwealth's attorney said he will not file charges against a Commonwealth Catholic Charities employee who signed a consent form for a teenager in the agency's care to have an abortion.

"My finding is that she was not an eligible person to sign, but she didn't realize she wasn't eligible to sign," Commonwealth Attorney Michael N. Herring said yesterday.

State code requires that an authorized person -- a parent, legal guardian or a person acting in the place of a parent -- sign a consent form for a minor to have an abortion. Violation of the code is punishable by a $500 fine.

"To the extent the statute was violated, it was unintended," Herring said.

He began an investigation last week to find out if the person who signed a consent form for a 16-year-old Guatemalan teenager in a foster-care program to have an abortion in January had that authority.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has legal custody of minors in Commonwealth Catholic Charities' care under the Office of Refugee Resettlement's Department of Unaccompanied Children's Services, the federal program that the teenager was in at the time of the abortion.

Henrico County-based Commonwealth Catholic Charities has physical custody of the minor, not legal rights, Herring said. He said that may have created some confusion among the employees.

"It's clear to me from the staff worker who signed, as well as conversations with folks at Catholic Charities, that they talked it through and concluded that they had authorization as the child's custodian. Whether legally they were the custodian or not, they thought that they functioned as the child's custodian."

Judie Brown, president of American Life League, a Washington-based group that opposes legalized abortion, said she was disappointed. She had sent a letter last week asking Herring to investigate the matter, though he said he had already decided to look into it.

"It is unfortunate that the commonwealth's attorney has exposed the flaw in Virginia's parental consent law, by refusing to prosecute an individual who presented themselves as a substitute parent and thereby authorized the killing of a preborn child," she said in a written statement. "We plan to pursue this matter through the state legislature."

Commonwealth Catholic Charities fired four people in March, including the preson who signed the consent form, saying they violated Catholic teachings when they assisted the girl in the implantation of a contraceptive device and in preparation for the abortion.

Herring said he found in the investigation that employees made sure that the teenager knew about adoption services and about the risks of abortion, but she was adamant about not having the child.

Joanne D. Nattrass, executive director of Commonwealth Catholic Charities and the Most Rev. Francis X. DiLorenzo, bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Richmond, said they found out about the planned abortion the day before it occurred but were told there was nothing they could do to stop it.

The Department of Health and Human Services, which contracts with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to provide services for minors in its custody, is also investigating the circumstances surrounding the abortion.

Herring said Commonwealth Catholic Charities employees who were involved with the teenager's abortion sought guidance from the Office of Refugee Resettlement.

"Their understanding was that ORR said, 'We won't pay,' but there was no accompanying message that said, 'Don't do it'," Herring said. "So the team's conclusion was, 'If we can find funding through some other means, we still have the authority to help this young lady."

Nattrass has said neither her agency nor the diocese paid for the abortion. Yesterday, she said she had no comment for this story. Stephen S. Neill, spokesman for the diocese, also had no comment.

The Virginia League for Planned Parenthood in Richmond performed the abortion, Herring said.

Health and Human Services officials said they told Commonwealth Catholic Charities employees to follow state laws and regulations regarding the teenager's pregnancy and her wish to terminate it.

Herring said he met with the woman who signed the consent form and her attorney for about 45 minutes in his office yesterday. She told him that she consulted with her supervisors before signing the consent form.

"She was forthright," he said. "Her demeanor was such that she seemed concerned that despite the steps that she took, she was still being subjected to criminal scrutiny because in her mind she really had dotted all her 'i's and crossed all her 't's. I think she's sorry that all of this came about, but she truly believed she was doing an appropriate thing at the time."
Contact Juan Antonio Lizama at (804) 649-6513 or jlizama@timesdispatch.com.