Parental Notification

I need some help.

The Supreme Court is hearing a case regarding abortion and parental notification for minors today.  The idea that a parent, except for extraordinary circumstances (as determined by a judge), should be required to be a part of any medical procedure their children undergo (which they are for any other medical procedure besides this one) doesn't seem all that extraordinary to me.

Someone explain to me why this is not ok.

Comments

[Ty]

As an adult, I don't have much of a problem with it anymore, because God forbid, I have a daughter and she gets pregnant at 14, 15, 16, I would want to know, at the very least so I could help her and protect her and keep her mentally sane from the ordeal. But while I would be mad, worried, concerned, I wouldn't A) make her keep it, or B) disown her.

But I think the reason people are opposed is that if a 16 year old is pro choice, and she wants to end the pregnancy, and her parents have to know, she may end up in a life she doesn't want, no HS diploma, a baby, no means to survive, etc. because her parents don't want her to do it (and even if they can't legally stop her, that pressure could stop her).

Or worse, to hide it, she might get an illegal abortion, (think coathangers, or in the case of last week's law and order, having her boyfriend beat the crap out of her to end it or in the case of a girl I knew in HS, get completely wasted drunk trying to end it).

Parental notification just opens a whole host of other problems. With accepting, open, pro-choice parents, it doesn't seem like a problem, but if the parents plan to disown the child for a pregnancy out of wedlock or think it is best for their daughter to raise the child and "deal with" her mistakes, then it could in my eyes be a bad system.

The most important thing is we want to protect the minor. And if she sees her only options as an illegal abortion or punishment from her parents, she is likely to choose the former. And that in my opinion is far worse than her parents simply not knowing about the safe procedure.

[Amber]

It's all very easy to say "there's not a problem with it" if you come from a stable home environment with loving, somewhat sane parents.

Unfortunately... a lot of people don't.

[Ty]

Just wondering, Amber, are you talking to me or Dylan? Because while I personally don't have a problem with it, legally I do. Hope I made that clear...

[Mortaine]

1) Parents aren't always sane or reasonable. If the parents are notified, they might disown/kick out a daughter just for having sex, let alone getting pregnant.

2) Parents aren't always innocent, either. If a girl wants to abort the fetus that her father impregnated her with, perhaps making sure that her parents know isn't going to make life any safer for the girl in question, you know?

3) Children aren't always reasonable, either-- Ty's example of how a girl might try to end a pregnancy without her parents' knowledge is a good example of how hazardous this ruling could be.

4) It's a slippery slope. Today, we might decide that parents need to be notified. The next step is that parents need to give permission. And then? Perhaps a husband needs to be notified if a wife decides to abort an unwanted pregnancy? Or what if he has to give permission? Or what about the unmarried boyfriend? At what point does a female have the right to say "no, this is my private decision, and nobody else's"? Choice begins at conception.

Slippery, slippery slope, I tell ya.

[Summer]

One of the -- I admit, clever, because they had me agreeing before I thought it through -- arguments I've heard for making notification required is that minors need parental notification/permission to get piercings or tattoos. So the logic goes that if these relatively minor events need parental involvement somehow, then of course abortion should.

But those arguments don't take into consideration the further-reaching implications listed above.

[Ms. Q]

This is my true story. It doesn't pertain directly to parental notification. Just indirectly.

I was barely sixteen years old when my mom noticed something strange about me. (My boobs. They got really big. That was strange.) We went to the doctor who examined me and said "It looks like you are about 7 weeks pregnant."
Me: "Wha?"
Mom: "Wha?"
Doctor (to me): "Well, you do have choices."
Mom (to doctor): "Oh no she does not."

I was kept almost quite literally under lock and key until my 21-year old boyfriend in San Diego (the one that knocked me up) could fly home to Texas and marry me so that I wouldn't have to be an unwed mother. I was lucky. Considering my dad could have beat the shit out of me or worse. I was only forced to get married. As in, driven to the courthouse and dragged in to the Justice of the Peace.

Subsequently, as Ty said, I am 37 with no HS diploma and still trying to work my way through college.

Of course, I want to know if one of my kids gets pregnant. But, as the others stated, there are some unreasonable parents out there and that limits choices for many girls. I don't think laws should be made that directly or indirectly restrict a woman's right to choose. And that goes for a woman of 16 or a woman of 18.

Because, in most cases, if you are old enough to engage in sex and become pregnant, I think you should be considered old enough to make the decision yourself about what to do about it.

Great question, Dyl. I am curious how you feel now. Have we persuaded you at all?

[Amber]

Ty,

I wasn't talking to anyone in particular - just stating my opinion. Sorry for any confusion.