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SAUNDERS: A parent's right to know
San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 10/1/6 | Debra J. Saunders

Posted on 10/01/2006 1:54:39 PM PDT by SmithL

OPPONENTS of Proposition 85, which would mandate that a parent be notified before a minor has an abortion, basically argue that teenagers will tell good parents -- open-minded parents like them -- if they are pregnant. But if pregnant teenagers don't talk to their parents, it probably is for a good reason. As in: their parents are close-minded, abusive or neglectful.

They have a nifty-sounding sentence that sounds good until you think about it. As they told The Chronicle's editorial board last week, no law can make kids talk to their parents.

Wrong. When minors need parental consent to do something they want to do, they talk to their parents.

In this case, Prop. 85 does not require that parents consent to their daughters' abortions. It requires that parents be notified -- unless there is a medical emergency, a judge waives parental notification based on the child's maturity or best interests, or parents stipulate in writing that they don't want to know. (A form would allow parents to waive the notification requirement for 30 days, until a specific date or until their daughter's 18th birthday.)

The folks behind Prop. 85 are essentially the people who pushed a similar measure, Proposition 73, which 53 percent of California voters rejected in November. No doubt many of those voters don't want to limit legal abortions.

But also, apparently, the opponents' argument that, that if Prop. 73 passed, children from dysfunctional families would be harmed, resonated with Californians. ... Yet would hapless teenagers be better off without a parent's help? Better to have a law that mandates parental notification, unless a judge waives the requirement.

Meanwhile, the law has to recognize a parent's fundamental right to know if his or her 14-year-old daughter is pregnant.

(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: California
KEYWORDS: abortion; calinitiatives; prop73; righttoknow

1 posted on 10/01/2006 1:54:40 PM PDT by SmithL
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To: SmithL

This is so skewed. Of course a child is going to be reluctant to tell her parents that she is pregnant if she has been taught that her behavior is wrong. That doesn't mean that even though they may be disappointed in her that they aren't going to continue to love and support her.


2 posted on 10/01/2006 2:01:32 PM PDT by CindyDawg
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To: SmithL

It's my child. A minor. I am the legal guardian. I am responsible for that child. The child fails in school, I'm the one the school calls. The child gets a speeding ticket, I'm the one who pay for the insurance hike. The child wants to get married, I'm the one who has to sign the forms. The child wants to get an abortion, I darn well better be informed before hand.


3 posted on 10/01/2006 2:06:05 PM PDT by mtbopfuyn (I think the border is kind of an artificial barrier - San Antonio councilwoman Patti Radle)
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To: SmithL

Actually this is a pretty good piece for Saunders. She's normally a pro-abort.


4 posted on 10/01/2006 2:08:26 PM PDT by ElkGroveDan (The California Republican Party needs Arnold the way a drowning man needs an anvil.)
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To: SmithL

Its a very strange thing, but a lot of good parents are closed minded about their 14 year old daughter getting knocked up. They are even more closed minded about that daughter making a decision without them, which may effect her mentally and physically for the rest of her life.


5 posted on 10/01/2006 2:15:13 PM PDT by sgtbono2002 (The fourth estate is a fifth column.)
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To: SmithL

It's amazing here in California my daughter can't even take an aspirin at school without a letter from me and our doctor. Meanwhile it is OK for her to leave school, have an abortion, and go back to school like nothing happened and the district won't tell me a thing.


6 posted on 10/01/2006 2:32:20 PM PDT by CCGuy
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To: CCGuy
Just for the heck of it I would love to get a measure on the ballot that makes it legal for a minor to get a tattoo or any piercing without parental notification. And I would use the abortion advocates arguments to support it. Most kids communicate with their parents about the tattoos they want. Really, why mandate it?


It's time to show people how absolutely ludicrous this all really is. And how planned parenthood really just wants to guarantee that as many abortions as possible occur.
7 posted on 10/01/2006 2:49:32 PM PDT by mockingbyrd (Good heavens! What women these Christians have-----Libanus)
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To: SmithL
...a parent's fundamental right to know if his or her 14-year-old daughter is pregnant.

It seems like a no-brainer--except to mind-numb liberals.

8 posted on 10/01/2006 2:50:43 PM PDT by calcowgirl ("Liberalism is just Communism sold by the drink." P. J. O'Rourke)
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To: SmithL

I've said it before and I'll say it again: abortion is a SURGICAL procedure. What OTHER surgical procedure can be performed on a CHILD without a parent or guardian's permission?


9 posted on 10/01/2006 2:51:05 PM PDT by hardworking (Please read "The Clash of Civilizations" by Samuel Huntington - well worth it.)
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To: ElkGroveDan

ping to above.

I believe we discussed similar tactics before.


10 posted on 10/01/2006 2:52:28 PM PDT by calcowgirl ("Liberalism is just Communism sold by the drink." P. J. O'Rourke)
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To: SmithL
Prop. 85 does not require that parents consent to their daughters' abortions.

Why on earth not?

11 posted on 10/01/2006 3:28:44 PM PDT by Jim Noble (Who you gonna call?)
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To: CCGuy

Exactly. Then what happens when she gets an infection or even bleeds out overnight and we parents have no clue to even be looking for these side effects of the "abortion gone wrong". That's what pisses me off.

The paperwork the schools send home to be initialized has a section saying something to the effect that the student can leave campus for medical without parental notification. I had always wrote next to it_ THIS HAD BETTER NOT HAPPEN. I took her out of the school last year. It's a relief that she's not exposed to all the trash at her school.


12 posted on 10/01/2006 4:24:09 PM PDT by CaliGirl-R (Everything I know about Dems, I learned from Democratic Underground)
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To: mockingbyrd; calcowgirl
Just for the heck of it I would love to get a measure on the ballot that makes it legal for a minor to get a tattoo or any piercing without parental notification. ............... It's time to show people how absolutely ludicrous this all really is.

I would add why not allow theme to sign for credit cards? How about having military recruiters sign them up at schools age 14? I'd love to get the libs on record about that stuff. They'd be telling us how those kids are too young to make those serious life-altering commitments.

13 posted on 10/01/2006 4:39:28 PM PDT by ElkGroveDan (The California Republican Party needs Arnold the way a drowning man needs an anvil.)
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To: SmithL

Hell parents should have VETO rights over elective minor abortions in non life threatening situations. 2nd amendment rights are true constitutional rights, not spurious made up ones like "a woman's right to choose" yet we abridge minor's RKBA all the time. Maybe this right is so absolute because it is made up as we go along?


14 posted on 10/01/2006 7:37:31 PM PDT by DMZFrank
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To: SmithL
But if pregnant teenagers don't talk to their parents, it probably is for a good reason. As in: their parents are close-minded, abusive or neglectful.

Nonsense.

15 posted on 10/01/2006 7:38:43 PM PDT by Not A Snowbird (Official RKBA Landscaper and Arborist, Duchess of Green Leafy Things)
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