Quote:
Originally Posted by MysticCat
As a parent, I'm going with ThetaPrincess on this one. My child's school can't give my kid an aspirin without my permission, but someone can perform a surgical procedure or give my child much more potent drugs without my knowledge, much less my permission? Include safeguards where the child can bypass parental consent where truly appropriate and necessary, but if the kid's a minor, then the kid's a minor and her parents are responsible for her.
I can hear my daughter now: "Oh no you di - nt!"  |
I've gotta tell you...once an underage girl becomes pregnant, for all purposes of her medical care, she is an ADULT. It doesn't matter if she is 9 years old. I think then saying you're an adult and have to make your own medical decisions as a mother, but if you want an abortion you are now a minor and have to ask permission of your parent is stupid.
The problem with a lot of this debate is that it is not completely about abortion rights. The debate includes social and religious views about contraception, pre-marital sex, sex education and a plethora of other topics.
I think at some point we all will have to decide that to reach a goal of decreasing the number of abortions in this country, we have to accept that contraception and sex education should be readily available with NO impediment put on teenagers because of their parents personal moral or religious ideology. A recent study showed that pre-marital sex rates have not changed since the 20's. The polled people from their teens to their 80s and 95% of people reported that they engaged in pre-marital sex. This whole "abstinence" ideal is a myth. People LIE. Do we want to pretend we all were virgins until marriage and leave our children to sneak out and get pregnant because giving contraception "sends the wrong message?" Or do we accept that the VAST MAJORITY of Americans don't practice what they preach and that we'd do our children a favor by being realistic and giving them the tools to protect themselves from unwanted pregnancies and deadly diseases?