In Loco Parentis: School Arranges for Teenager’s Abortion During School Hours Without Notifying Parents

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.