Ballard High School in Seattle, Washington has triggered a dispute over parental rights when it arranged for an abortion of a teenage girl during school hours without notifying her parents. While the parents signed a consent form to allow her to use the clinic, they never agreed that such trips to the nurse would include an abortion.
The school put the teenager in a taxi and arranged for the abortion at a site another location.
T.J. Cosgrove of the King County Health Department noted that “[a]t any age in the state of Washington, an individual can consent to a termination of pregnancy.”
I have long opposed such a sweeping rule and denial of parental rights. In some states a school needs parental permission to give a girl an aspirin but not an abortion. For a prior column, click here. While I support the right of a teenager to seek a court exception for parental notification, I believe parents have a right to be informed of such a procedure at a minimum.
For the full story, click here.
” If it were my underage daughter, she would not have a choice. She would have to live with the consequences of her previous choice to engage in baby-producing activities “. Lady Liberty
Sadly it is exactly that type of attitude that drives young woman to seek guidance from virtual strangers rather than the parents who love them conditionally. Why is it that you believe that you have the right to force your teenaged daughter to live a life that you have chosen for her?
Lady Liberty:
“and I’ll be damned if the state or school undermines my authority.”
Where are you moving to? Wrong time wrong country for that statement. But good luck with your delusion. The state can now tell you to jump and your only recourse is to ask how high.
I live in the DC area (MD) and I can assure you that most people around here that work for government are either moral busy bodies or people who lust for power or Marxist thugs. They scare the hell out of me.
Hopefully, the girls parents found out because they noticed a changed emotional state. Absent any history or evidence of abuse, I couldn’t agree with Turley more. Teenagers feel uncomfortable talking to their parents about all sorts of things, but sometimes they just need to.
At the very least school officials ahould be aware that many people view abortion as a mortal sin, and that parents should be notified before what they consider to be a soul-destroying act takes place.
If it were my underage daughter, she would not have a choice. She would have to live with the consequences of her previous choice to engage in baby-producing activities—either adoption or marriage, and I’ll be damned if the state or school undermines my authority.
There has to be much, much more to this story, and I imagine we’ll be able to find out more information on the details if we care to look for it in the future. I hope the people of Washington don’t immediately jump to outrage and rescind the law that allows a minor to decide for herself what she wants to do in such a situation. I don’t believe a parent, anymore than anyone else, has the right to force any female to carry a pregnancy to term.
And expecting that most girls have the wherewithal to exercise the right to seek a court exception for parental notification from a judge is just staggering. Most teenagers have zero experience with any legal entanglements or court procedures, and just learning what has to be done and arranging an appearance before a judge is time-consuming – time she may not have. And what if the judge refuses to honor her request? If adults had taken the time to explain this legal procedure to her before it became necessary, they would probably have discussed the possibility of pregnancy with her and advised her of the precautions to take to keep from becoming pregnant in the first place.
When a teenager finds out she’s pregnant, she is panic-stricken. All she wants is not to be pregnant anymore. She should have the right to make that decision and carry it out without anyone standing in her way, including her parents and a judge.
And another thing… How did the parents find out?
I am always amazed at the professor’s ability to capture in a nutshell a larger picture.
The one who claims parental rights, MOMCOM, is quite loco and we need to grow up and put she-it back in the cage because she ain’t got no parentis abilities in the final analysis.
http://blogdredd.blogspot.com/2010/03/why-does-momcom-hate-america.html
The problem with parental notification rules is that they harm the young women they are seemingly intended to help. If a young women, for whatever reason, fears telling her parents that she is pregnant and decides to terminate the pregnancy, she must be protected in the exercise of her choice. If the young woman has a healthy relationship with her parents, she will tell them about the pregnancy if she wishes. If she chooses not to, I really think we have to give her the benefit of the doubt and accept that she has a better sense of what she can safely tell her parents than anyone commenting here. I regret to say I include the much esteemed Professor Turley in this.
Did you see the story of a pop singer’s manager being arraignned on charges of reckless endangerment and criminal nuisance because he didn’t tweet what the police wanted him to tweet? It’s pretty amazing.
How is it even possible to arrest somebody for not putting a message out on the intertubes?
In Ontario ( not sure about the rest of the country ) people are permitted to make their own medical decisions sans parental concent as of the age of 16. In fact, once an adolecsent turns the age of 16 a GP requires a signed concent, by the individual, in order to disclose any medical information to ANYONE. I believe that there are some individuals who are mature enough at that age to make informed decisions, and I think that the facts of this case need to be considered prior to making a snap judgement. I suspect that if the teen went to school officials rather than her parents for guidance in this situation there was a valid reason for that.
Personally, I would want to know if it was my daughter ( if I had a daughter that is ). However I also know that if it was my daughter she would feel comfortable coming to me, and not school officials, for guidance.
vlf2112–
“That said, I can’t help but wonder what the circumstances were behind the parents not being notified – incest, or perhaps rape at the hands of a family member.”
I wonder too.
And here I thought my early 1950s polio vaccination by a school nurse was excessive as she handled my bare, upper left arm while I was standing in line with other boys and girls…
Now that’s service. An education and an abortion too!
Unless there is documented abuse in the home, the state has no right to get in between parents and their children. Period.
By the way, I’m pro-choice…for LEGAL ADULTS.
PS. I wonder who paid for the abortion? The taxi? The time it took the administrative folks to “arrange” for everything? The telephone/computer/internet?
I agree with Professor Turley on this issue – I certainly would want to be informed if this were my daughter. That said, I can’t help but wonder what the circumstances were behind the parents not being notified – incest, or perhaps rape at the hands of a family member.
I know there are (a few) instances where parental knowledge can be downright dangerous…this is where counseling and oversight, especially for minors, on the clinic end is of paramount importance. And currently lacking in quality and substance IMHO.
I don’t see this as a clear cut issue. There are going to be plenty of cases where a pregnant teenager is making a mature decision to keep her parents out of the loop.
By mandating parental participation, the law may be driving kids to cross state lines or to procure underground unsafe abortions. If we value freedom of choice, we need to allow people to make bad choices as well as good ones.
OMG….
To my mind, this is just as egregious as denying the teenager the right altogether. Schools stand in loco parentis, not in supremus parentis.
How old is the child? Personally if I were the parent someone would be doing jail time if the child were under 18.
This is BS.
Ditto
I am in total agreement with the Prof on this issue.