Teen Says Mom Wanted Forced Abortion

LAKE CLARKE SHORES, Fla. (AP) â€” A woman was charged with forcing her pregnant 16-year-old daughter at gunpoint to go to an abortion clinic. <br><br>No abortion was performed, police said. <br><br>Brittany

Wednesday, August 2nd 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

LAKE CLARKE SHORES, Fla. (AP) â€” A woman was charged with forcing her pregnant 16-year-old daughter at gunpoint to go to an abortion clinic.

No abortion was performed, police said.

Brittany Dowis, who is in her first trimester of pregnancy, told police that her mother pointed the gun at her belly Tuesday at their Fort Pierce home, then drove her 67 miles to the Aware Woman Medical Clinic, just outside West Palm Beach.

Alone with clinic workers, Brittany wrote on a form that her mother was forcing her to end the pregnancy, police said.

At about the same time, police said, Glenda Dowis told a nurse in the waiting room, ``If my daughter doesn't have this abortion, I'm going to blow her brains out.''

Clinic workers called police, and Dowis, 42, was arrested and charged with one count of false imprisonment and one count of domestic assault.

A .38-caliber revolver was found in Dowis' car, police said.

Dowis was held overnight for her first court appearance Wednesday.