Letters to the Editor
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Time to treat the child like an adult
Abortion is different than other surgical procedures not because it has to do with sex, but because the consequences of the decision are not fleeting, but last for the whole lifetime of the woman. Nobody - not even a parent - has the right to force that kind of a decision on someone, or even to interfere in the decision making process. The consequences are too great. The ideal of parents being caring and supportive in this hour of need is irrelevant: rights are there to protect the exception, not enforce the mean.
Adolescents are hybrid creatures, containing elements both childlike and adult. We want to protect them because of their childishness. However, an unplanned pregnancy is not the time to do this. Unplanned pregnancies are occasions to look to the adult in the young woman, and not to treat her like a child.
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To Herself
"This has nothing to do with parental notification and everything to do with chipping away at Roe V. Wade."
Well and simply stated, Herself. It's absolutely what this is all about. Conservative Orange County Christian neocons couldn't persuade Californians to restrict abortion across the board, so they decided to start small and move in baby steps. And exploiting our relationships with our daughters seemed like an ideal place to begin.
No on 85. Period.
~AS~
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What about incest victims?
Read Crystal Brown's story if you think you support Prop. 85:
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/15623402.htm
She was repeatedly raped by her father and bore two children by him. Is this the kind of parent who should be notified of his daughter's abortion? Get your head out of your ass and try to have some empathy for people whose reality differs from yours.
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P.S.
And in cases of teenagers coping with abuse, a court can permit a minor to get an abortion without parental notification.
Can you imagine a 14-year-old incest victim having to go to court and tell a judge that her daddy raped her? Again, lady, get your head out of your ass.
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Right to medical privacy
This issue is quite simple to me. All individuals should have a right to privacy in their medical affairs, period.
Doctors have an ethical obligation to preserve their patients' privacy, and those doctors who follow parental notification laws are violating that obligation.
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Rational Teenage Sex drive
Clearly these people have never been around teens. "Rationale" and "teen sex drive" shouldn't even be in the same sentence. That study's metodology and assumptions were torn to shreds on the Slate Fray boards. It's not valid at all. Citing it actually undermines her credibility.
I support parental notification with bypass because most teens underestimate their parents' reactions, and most are not rational at times of stress. But parental notification as a sex deterrent? No. It is solely because I think we SHOULD treat abortion like any other medical procedure. Teens should get parental consent because they are NOT adult women, and adult women should need no special hurdles (waiting periods, literature) not provided for other procedures because abortion is a medical procedure, pure and simple. It has some moral issues, but so does plastic surgery and and any number of other medical procedures. Treat abortion like other medical procedures, between a doctor and an adult woman, or a doctor and the parents of a minor, and leave the rest out.
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Absolutely disgusting - this isn't about YOU
Too many arrogant parents and adults fall continuously for the "father knows best" argument. Well let me tell you, you may be correct that your children can trust you for assistance in difficult situations, but this bill isn't about you. It's about the thousands of parents who can't be trusted - who are violent, controlling and abusive to their kids and who will abandon, harm or terrorize their children if they discover this secret.
Sexual abuse of children and teens is rampant in our society. When a 12 yr old get pregnant, who do you thin is most likely to be the father? Who is most likely to be an accessory? A highschool teacher? A stranger at the shopping mall? A pervert at church? Wrong, wrong wrong. The most common sexual predator is the PARENTS. Forget all those news reports, the vast majority of child and teen rapists are close family members. The judicial bypass exemption in the bill is worthless.
Many adolescents have parents who are not like you. Don't endanger their lives with your arrogance. If you want your children to trust you, talk to them. Leave us less fortunate teens out of it.
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a child no longer
If the teenager gives birth, she becomes a parent for her child, with all the rights and obligations. Her parents have no obligation to help her with her child and no right to interfere with how the teenager brings up the child. (This simply isn't the case with other medical procedures a child may have- a parent can be held liable for criminally neglecting a medical problem or can sue a provider for bad care.) For issues involving that baby, the teenager is the adult. It seems to me that "issues involving that baby" includes the decision whether to have that child at all. So, teenagers should be presumed to be adults when making the decision to have an abortion, just like they would be if they were to have the child.
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Would you trust these parents?
I get so sick of bills like these because as a teen, I've seen so many of my friend's problems being caused by insanely f*cked up parents. Want to hear about a few?
A 16-yr old friend once dated a very abusive guy for many months. He hit her, raped her, tried to prostitue her to his friends and did all he could to isolate her from her friends. Finally, with our help she had the courage to break it off. Despite knowing that he had hit her and been generally abusive, her parents INVITED HIM TO DINNER SEVERAL TIMES A MONTH and PRESSURED HER TO GET BACK TOGETHER WITH HIM because they knew she'd had sex with him and therefore should marry him. Said father also used to sit in her bedroom at night and strike her with a stick whenever she'd shift in her sleep so that her legs were partially spread.
Another, older friend was in an abusive relationship and got pregnant. Her parents did all they could to prevent her from having an abortion, but she got one behind their back and tried to pass it off as a miscarriage. The abusive boyfriend put her in ER as soon as he found out. Several months later, she was pregnant again, and again her parents tried to prevent her from aborting for religious reasons and this time they succeeded. Soon after, she became too terrified to leave her then husband because he said he'd kill the child if she did.
A friend in another state who had been sexually abused by her father and grandfather for many years became pregnant. When learning that she couldn't get an abortion due to parental notification laws, she tried to kill herself but thankfully changed her mind, got medical help and survived.
Do you honestly think these girl's parents are more capable of making a life-changing decision than the girl herself? The judicial bypass is time-consuming and difficult to use, too difficult to conceal from parents and too many judges refuse them without consideration. Protect young women like these from the abusive and coercive reactions of their parents. Not all parents have their children's interest at heart - Vote No on parental notification and parental consent bills!