This is just the most useless, infuriating law. When will Republicans get their heads out of their "Ozzie and Harriet" asses? If a girl doesn't want to tell her father that she's pregnant, maybe that's because her father got her in that state. Maybe her father would beat the crap out of her for breaking curfew, let alone coming home pregnant. The vast majority of teens would not be affected by this law, but the ones who are may have very good reasons for making their choice. And people who help them should not be criminalized.

I can't BELIEVE that when the Middle East is melting down--a situation that affects and endangers us all--our lawmakers spend time obsessing about sexually active teenage girls. When are Americans going to say "Enough, already!"

But even "Don't put Grandma in jail!" as it turns out, beats "Parents should know what their children are up to!" like paper beats rock. As in, not.

As everyone who was in a playground knows, paper totally beats rock. Paper covers rock, but rock crushes scissors (and scissors beats paper, if you're really out of touch).

And this attempt at killing teens and forcing mandatory motherhood should be cushed with mountains.

Will fix that. Rage has addled my brain. Next thing you know, I'll say Chutes go up and Ladders go down. Thanks!

It protects minors and the unborn lives the minors carry until decisions may be made without adding to the layers of deception and ignorance that have already occurred.

Faling to confront what abortion is as well as the responsibilities that go with sexual expression have led those of us who support a woman's right to her reproductive health down a slippery slope to secrecy and shame as well as creating a deeper wedge between parents and their children, for whom they are legally responsible in all matters.

Of all the subjective material she posts, it's nice to know she feels an immediate need to let Salon readers know she will not let her reputation for the facts regarding "rock, paper, scissors" to be tarnished.

Would it be that Broadsheet...let alone the rest of Salon...were so quick to fix errors. Then again, Farhad Manjoo has a documented history of letting the "letters" section provide fact-checking for his articles. Why am I so surprised?

Maybe if we put as much energy into teaching children that fucking isn't what they ought to be doing as we put into trying to give them as many opportunities as possible to erase any of the responsibility or consequences of fucking...maybe we wouldn't have our thongs in a wedgie over non-issues like CCPA.

I can still be a Democrat and an ACLU member and call bullshit when anyone mistakes the notion of freedom as "freedom from personal responsibility."

Maybe if we put as much energy into teaching children that fucking isn't what they ought to be doing as we put into trying to give them as many opportunities as possible to erase any of the responsibility or consequences of fucking...maybe we wouldn't have our thongs in a wedgie over non-issues like CCPA.

What do you mean, "maybe"? We put far more resources into "abstinence-only" education than into reproductive services, and guess what, people are still doing it just like they always have and always will.

That was 26 years ago...my dad was dead and I had never (and have still never) had a serious heart-to-heart conversation with my cold, narcissistic mother. I had no older siblings or cousins. My dear aunt (my mother's younger sister) was unjudgmental and caring. She stayed with me during the procedure and then brought me to a friend of her's house to recuperate. My mother never found out.

I cannot imagine what I would have done without her. I guess I would have taken myself to the abortion clinic, and driven myself home? (I don't even think they allowed this...) I certainly was not going to have a baby--in college, with a boyfriend who didn't want it, broke--so I would have found a way, but it would not have been a good way...

By the way I got pregnant while using a diaphraghm...I had had to go off the pill a few months prior due to a cyst in my breast the doctors thought might be pill-related (turned out it wasn't). I was not being irresponsible; my reliable birth control was off limits and my backup method failed.

To this day I love my aunt for many reasons but perhaps especially for being there for me on that particular day. To think that she would now be considered a criminal, well I just can't believe it. She was a savior.

A diaphragm is not 100% foolproof.

You were fucking a guy who didn't want a child...might have been responsible to have that chat before bumping uglies.

You were said 21, an adult...and you made these errors. Your aunt took a legal adult for an abortion.

You couldn't handle being a responsible adult and your solution is to make sure children can behave as irresponsibly as you did.

Please. There's only so much shit I can shovel, even in hipboots.

Restricting someone's right to travel to another state to assist another person in engaging in an activity that is legal in the destination state raises all kinds of constitutional problems. This law was a publicity stunt just waiting for a court challenge.

Plus, the problem with the law is that, in healthy families, minors will discuss unintended pregnancies with their parents. But in cases of abusive families or pregnancies resulting from incest, does it make sense to punish other adults in the minors' lives? What if a minor's parent(s) are in jail? Or have abandoned her? Or are unknown to her? What if the minor respects her aunt/grandmother/sister/principal/neighbor because that person is more responsible, caring, and trustworthy than her parents? Legislating healthy family relationships is not a solution. In an ideal world, parents would have their children's best interests at heart and would be available and helpful in difficult situations. But we don't live in an ideal world.