I admit it: I am largely apolitical. A lot of people consider me a bad person. I'm not affiliated with any party, I consider myself a political moderate, and I see so little difference from politician to politician that politics largely disillusions me. But I've heard things on the radio about this law in New Hampshire that requires doctors to notify parents 48 hours before the abortion of a minor. I became fascinated with the details of this case, and as I was flipping through the TV channels this evening, I found the debate before the Supreme Court on C-Span. I decided that I couldn't afford to change the channel, because I was actually interested about something in the realm of current affairs. Continue reading if you wish, but my views expressed here are all my own and largely controversial. All angry comments with no real debatable quality will be deleted.
Imagine a seventeen year-old girl. She's beginning her senior year in high school. She's been accepted to a good college, will be majoring in pre-medicine, and has her whole life ahead of her. Sometime around Christmas she misses a period. She goes to the doctor in secret a day after school in January, and she finds out she's pregnant. She talks to her boyfriend of two years, and he tells her that they only thing neither of them can afford to handle a child. She goes to Planned Parenthood and asks for an abortion. They tell her she has to tell her parents first. The girl is obviously terrified. Her parents could have any number of reactions, and she doesn't like most of them.
I am nearly 23, recently graduated from college. I can't even imagine going through the terror of discovering I'm pregnant, five years older than the age of a minor. Even though I live by myself in my own place, even though I have an excellent health care program through my employment, even though I have a stable pay check and could support a child if I needed to, I am still afraid of my parents' reactions if I became pregnant. Five years ago, if I were still in high school? Forget about it.
But fear is not the issue here. The issue is parents, being aware of what their children are doing.
Parental notification for minors' abortions is absolutely necessary, without exception. No justification exists for a girl to be able to have a legal abortion before she can legally purchase cigarettes. What is more harmful for a child? The very idea is preposterous.
A core issue in this debate is the fact that kids are having sex younger and younger. This fact can be related to multiple issues, but those reasons are not important. Even when people are having safer sex, the possibility for pregnancy is always there. Abstinence is the only 100% effective birth control, but teenagers just won't listen sometimes. Preaching can only go so far; children will make their own decisions. But when children make these decisions, for better or for worse, parents should be aware. Many kids try to hide the fact that they smoke from their parents, but too often parents know. They smell it on the child's clothes or in their hair. Pregnancy is a life-altering, earth-shattering event in the life of a woman. If parents can trust the government to take care of their children by not selling them drugs and alcohol, parents should also trust the government to take care of their children by upholding the parents' other wishes. If a parent thinks it's ok for their kid to smoke or drink, parents buy their children cigarettes or alcohol. If parents think it's ok for their children to have abortions, they can support their child's decision. If a parent knows their child is having sex, they can buy birth control.
The debate challenging the New Hampshire statute is a health exception, if the girl is immediately in danger as a result of her pregnancy. If delaying an abortion for just a few hours would harm the girl's health, should the parents still be informed? My answer is yes. The debate the Supreme Court is having shows how much variability the doctors' opinions can be for what exactly a "medical emergency" would constitute. If a minor is sexually active, he or she should be aware of the consequences. We are not holding children responsible for their actions. This is not a "women's health" issue. This is a parent/child issue. Parents have the right to know.
Posted by StephanieReigh at December 3, 2005 07:57 PM