Abortion and Parental Notification?

[Sunstone]

Should minor children be required to notify their parents before getting an abortion except when a judge grants otherwise?

 

[Bishka]

Should minor children be required to notify their parents before getting an abortion except when a judge grants otherwise?

Absolutley.

 

[nutshell]

I voted yes, but alas the CA propisition was shot down.

 

[Sunstone]

I voted yes, but alas the CA propisition was shot down.

I'm curious why it failed, Nutshell. Any ideas about that?

 

[s2a]

Should minor children be required to notify their parents before getting an abortion except when a judge grants otherwise?

I suppose that depends on whether or not you are of the opinion that all parents of all minor children are the very best caretakers of their own children's lives and futures. Idealistically, one might hope or wish this is so. Pragmatically, it can often be argued that parents of minor children are poor, utterly absent, or entirely negative role models and providers of exemplified ideals.

The question is, and remains, should dysfunctional or disengaged parents of teenagers retain the absolute right of potentially mandated enforcement of bringing and unwanted/unintended pregnancy to full term on behalf of their twelve-year-old daughter? Howsabout when she's seventeen?

At what age should females be allowed self-determination of their own reproductive health? At puberty; at age of legal sexual consent; or age of accountable adult maturity?

The second question remains as well. What prevailing or compelling overriding interest does the State possess in determining (legislating/mandating) the reproductive health or available options of any fertile female, regadless of their age?

 

[Mister Emu]

Yes...

 

[Ozzie]

Should minor children be required to notify their parents before getting an abortion except when a judge grants otherwise?

Yes. It is an abdication of parental responsibility to suppose that minors are equipped to decide as a matter of personal conscience whether abortion is justifiable or not.

 

[MaddLlama]

Most definately.

 

[darkwaldo]

I'm not really sure about this. If I was a parent I think I would like to know but, I would feel sorry for the girls whose parents prevent them from getting an abortion, or were prolife. There seems to be so much social stigma over abortion in this country. It would be sad to have ones parents against them as well.

 

[FerventGodSeeker]

I'm curious why it failed, Nutshell. Any ideas about that?

Because CA is a bunch of pinko lib commies? That would be my stab in the dark.

 

[Hacker]

It's a difficult question but I would have to go with yes.

 

[Pardus]

Grey!

But then again should we revive the usual chant? "It's my body"

 

[lunamoth]

S2A makes some good points--it's a very difficult situation. I would not want my daughters at 14 or 15 to be able to get an abortion without telling me...but then again I think the best way to address this is to cultivate a relationship with them that would have them trust me with these kinds of things.

What about situations where the girl is pregnant because she's been raped by her father? There are so many individual circumstances to be thought of.

luna

 

[FerventGodSeeker]

I suppose that depends on whether or not you are of the opinion that all parents of all minor children are the very best caretakers of their own children's lives and futures. Idealistically, one might hope or wish this is so. Pragmatically, it can often be argued that parents of minor children are poor, utterly absent, or entirely negative role models and providers of exemplified ideals.

It would be interesting to study the percentage of parents, whose underage daughters get pregnant and seek abortions, who would be psychologically deemed unfit to make healthy decisions for their children. My guess is, the number wouldn't be too high.

 

[doppelganger]

Should minor children be required to notify their parents before getting an abortion except when a judge grants otherwise?

That's a tough one. On the one hand, it ends up with the problem of young girls seeking out illegal and very dangerous abortions to avoid the wrath of their parents. But on the other hand, there's a good argument that parents need to know about this sort of thing to be able to care for their children.

It's very close, but I think my personal opinion is "no." What tips it for me is that there's already something seriously wrong with a parental-child relationship where a child is afraid to tell her parents that she's pregnant and/or wants an abortion.

 

[lilithu]

I'm not really sure about this. If I was a parent I think I would like to know but, I would feel sorry for the girls whose parents prevent them from getting an abortion, or were prolife. There seems to be so much social stigma over abortion in this country. It would be sad to have ones parents against them as well.

There is a social stigma over abortion in this country. AND there is a social stigma over being young, single, and pregnant in this country. So these girls are really caught between a rock and a hard place.

On the one hand if these young women decide to opt for abortion they're considered "baby killers." But otoh if they go through with the pregnancy, they're considered "sluts."

On the one hand we have a popular culture that glorifies sex, and if you don't have sex you're considered a prude. But otoh, there are those who consider sex "sinful" and therefore seek to block all sex education in school, so these girls don't have access to the information that they need to make informed decisions.

As if not teaching sex ed will somehow prevent kids from having sex. We know that's illogical. All this talk of being "responsible for your actions" when boys are not held responsible in the same way really comes down to punishing girls for doing the same thing that boys are doing.

 

[michel]

I suppose that depends on whether or not you are of the opinion that all parents of all minor children are the very best caretakers of their own children's lives and futures. Idealistically, one might hope or wish this is so. Pragmatically, it can often be argued that parents of minor children are poor, utterly absent, or entirely negative role models and providers of exemplified ideals.

The question is, and remains, should dysfunctional or disengaged parents of teenagers retain the absolute right of potentially mandated enforcement of bringing and unwanted/unintended pregnancy to full term on behalf of their twelve-year-old daughter? Howsabout when she's seventeen?

At what age should females be allowed self-determination of their own reproductive health? At puberty; at age of legal sexual consent; or age of accountable adult maturity?

The second question remains as well. What prevailing or compelling overriding interest does the State possess in determining (legislating/mandating) the reproductive health or available options of any fertile female, regadless of their age?

Don't even go there!:cover:

When you think of the process people have to go through to adopt, when all and sundry can have as many kids as they like - whether suitable as parents or not........... It just doesn't make sense.

I would say that the parents should be 'in the know'; one would hope that they would be there for support. But then, I forgot, we're talking about humans, aren't we?

 

[lilithu]

That's a tough one. On the one hand, it ends up with the problem of young girls seeking out illegal and very dangerous abortions to avoid the wrath of their parents. But on the other hand, there's a good argument that parents need to know about this sort of thing to be able to care for their children.

It's very close, but I think my personal opinion is "no." What tips it for me is that there's already something seriously wrong with a parental-child relationship where a child is afraid to tell her parents that she's pregnant and/or wants an abortion.

Where abortion rates have been studied pre- and post- enactment of parental notification laws what they tend to find is that abortions in the first trimester go down while abortions in the second trimester or later go up. Girls who are 17 are waiting til they turn 18 to have abortions. Whatever our respective stances on abortion I would hope that everyone would agree that if an abortion is going to happen it would be better for all involved if it happened earlier rather than later.

 

[MaddLlama]

I think that there's also a difference between parental approval and notiification. Do you think there's any situation where the parents should be notified, but not be allowed to object?

 

[Sunstone]

It would be interesting to study the percentage of parents, whose underage daughters get pregnant and seek abortions, who would be psychologically deemed unfit to make healthy decisions for their children. My guess is, the number wouldn't be too high.

Good point! But while the percentage might not be too high, the absolute numbers could be fairly significant. Just in my own life, I've seen numerous pregnant teens of dysfunctional parents.