resurrectionsong

July 10, 2003

Abortion Notification

Fox News is reporting this:

A Florida law requiring the notification of parents at least 48 hours before minors can obtain abortions violates privacy rights guaranteed by the state Constitution, the Florida Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

I'm not terribly familiar with Florida law or the Florida state constitution, but the furor over notification laws confuse me. In most states, it is not legal to perform even a simple medical procedure on a minor without parental notification except in the most dire of medical emergencies.

Pregnancy does not really qualify as an emergency requiring immediate care, does it? Abortion most certainly is a medical procedure--and it's also the kind of emotionally charged decision that a parent truly needs to be aware of when parenting their children. Part of being a parent is guiding and shepherding a child through difficult times; abortion qualifies.

Further, what level of privacy does a child have a right to? Is a minor's bedroom completely off-limits to parents because to intrude and inspect would be a violation of right to privacy? How about a child's diary?

Some states (Minnesota, for example) say that, in relation to medical care, minors must have parental consent for all care with the exception of the prevention of pregnancy (birth control), STDs, and drug or alcohol treatment. In other words, the parent is asked to step aside and let the state handle some of the most difficult questions and times that a child could face.

Reasonable adults realize that a child does not and should not have the same rights that an adult has. Florida law, on the other hand, seems to think that a child's rights to privacy are inviolable and a parent's rights to parent are negligible. The majority decision noted that this is a matter of privacy and law, not a matter of morality.

It's also a matter of what steps the state is willing to take to marginalize the place of the parent. No matter where I fall on the abortion debate, to ask parents to simply accept that their children can go through such a potentially traumatic and emotionally trying medical procedure without the guidance and support of their guardians seems simply wrong.

Read about Minnesota's consent laws.

Read about the Florida court's decision.

Posted by zombyboy at July 10, 2003 02:56 PM | TrackBack

Comments

I remember in high school, being the smart ass know-it-all that I was, I went to the school nurse and asked her, "If I want an aspirin do I need my parents' permission."

The response? "Actually, you would have to bring the aspirin to school with a note from your parents." (This was before those outrageous zero-tolerance rules got out of hand. Otherwise I could have been expelled for having a bottle of Bayer on my person.)

Then, I asked the nurse, "What if I want a referal to an abortion clinic for my girlfriend? Do I need a note in that case?"

The response? No. You do not need a note from your parents. You are entitled to your privacy." Mamma mia!

Thanks for your thoughts on this Zombyboy. I agree with what you're saying.

Posted by: Patrick at July 10, 2003 04:16 PM

But you must remember, dear Zomby, that not all parents are the loving kind where their children CAN go to them for guidence. Many parents would force their daughters to carry to term and give birth to a child and put it up for adoption, regardless of whether that daughter decided she didn't want to go through with the pregnancy or keep the newborn (or not). There are parents who would DISOWN their daughters for becoming pregnant out of wedlock, let alone because they were a minor. And some girls are scared because of the knowledge they have of their parent's attitudes towards teenage pregnancy.

Whilst it would be a happy huggy-feely world that all children can run to their parents and expect the kind of support that they SHOULD get, the facts clearly show that it just doesn't happen that way all the time. It's those kids whose rights are being protected and whose rights NEED protecting. It's laws such as those, where parental consent is needed that results with kids dying or being butchered on the tables of back-yard abortionists.

I'm in no way advocating abortion as a form of contraception - and it shouldn't be used as such - but to make it harder for some kids to get help regarding things like STDs and pregnancy is just stupid.

Great blog, by the way... I'll happily be a groupie.

Posted by: Ren at July 10, 2003 04:22 PM

Hi, Ren! Thanks for dropping by--and thank you very very much. You'd make an excellent groupie by Zomby standards--intelligent, strong-willed, funny, and, of course, beautiful.

Yeah!

Later this evening, after I've had time to get home and relax for a moment, I'll answer your points.

Posted by: zombyboy at July 10, 2003 04:38 PM

Congratulations, you are the first recipient of The-Blacklist Roll of Honor. This is a fine site you have here.

Posted by: TBL at July 10, 2003 08:48 PM

As a 32-yr-old in Florida, I would certainly be the first to agree that parental notification should be a pre-requisite to a minor receiving an abortion - notification not consent. It IS a medical procedure, and whereas parents must be notified whenever their child has any other medical procedure, this should be no exception. However, one way of dealing with the parents who might force their daughter to carry a baby to term because of their own beliefs (I do not believe they should have the right to do so, especially as having a child carries its own dangers, particularly for younger girls), I would offer the suggestion that the notification be made after the event.

Posted by: Eirelin at November 9, 2004 09:08 AM