Teen Abortion Bill Could Have Big Impact (Child Custody Protection Act)

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&ncid=578&e=1&u=/nm/20050129/ts_nm/iraq_usa_embassy_dc
Teen Abortion Bill Could Have Big Impact

4 minutes ago




By DAVID CRARY, AP National Writer

NEW YORK - The abortion bill most likely to become federal law this year would affect a relatively small number of pregnant teens, yet its impact on them could be dramatic — sharply reducing the options for girls in many states who dread telling their parents of their plight.




Supporters and opponents each offer vivid worst-case scenarios in debating the bill, which was included this week in the Senate Republicans' priority list. It would outlaw transporting a minor across state lines to obtain an abortion in order to evade parental consent or notification laws in the girl's home state.

The bill's advocates evoke the image of a girl being impregnated by an abusive older man who then drives them to an out-of-state abortion clinic so the girl's parents and the authorities won't find out about a relationship that might have been illegal because of age differences.

Opponents of the bill say it would criminalize the well-meaning acts of an aunt, older sister or other confidante who assist a girl terrified of being beaten or evicted from home if her parents learned of the pregnancy......



Titled the Child Custody Protection Act, and carrying a sentence of up to one year in prison, the bill has bounced around Congress for years, winning House approval three times but never reaching a vote on the Senate floor. Only now — after making the Senate GOP's Top 10 priority list — do supporters and foes believe its passage is probable........

our lives ....we are losing our freedoms, we are doomed unless we find a way to turn this train wreck around ..

free-lance investigative reporting as an avocation.

Bringing anything from fetishes to conflicts of interests into the light of day.

Eventually this regime will collapse under the weight of it's own hypocrisy, but it's great to be around watching DUers help it happen.

There are going to be a lot of dead daughters.

:(

I hate these right wing damage control "touchy-feely" titles they give to their draconian bills.

GOP's Top 10 priority list. Just goes to show you they don't care squat about terrorizing young girls with limited options. They just want to throw their weight around.

remember the recent story here about the 12 year old girl whose mother found out she was pregnant -- and forced here to drink bleach and then suffocated her. ... and made her 9 yo brother watch (and said she'd kill him if he cried).

the mother was clearly psycho -- but it is further proof that parental notification laws are the wrong way to go.

Her mother had found out that she had had sex. Though, I doubt the outcome would have been different if she had been pregnant.

The bill's advocates evoke the image of a girl being impregnated by an abusive older man who then drives them to an out-of-state abortion clinic so the girl's parents and the authorities won't find out about a relationship that might have been illegal because of age differences.

Therefore, the girl should have the baby? And what if "the abusive older man" is a relative?

I could be in favor of parental notification if there was some way to ensure that they didn't have the right to stop--or--not stop--the abortion from taking place.

:headbang:
rocknation

A bill requiring parental consent means the parent has the right to decide for the minor the outcome of her pregnancy. A bill requiring notification means (in theory) that the parent must be notified that a minor is choosing an abortion.

The reality is that parents can then enforce their will on their daughters through physical means, intimidation or coercion once they are notified.

To take the argument of the proponents of the bill in question one step further... they would like to see her forced to carry to term the child of an older abusive male who with whom she has carried on an illegal relationship? Bullcrap. They would like to see her carry to term any baby. And then magically have the means to raise it since it's not their problem anymore, and she damn well better not be using welfare, either.

Lord only knows how many of these pregnant teens have been sexually abused and imnregnated by family members. Lord only knows how many face beatings or worse when they tell the folks that someone in the family knocked 'em up.

If these a-holes are insistent about notification, How about an adult that the child trusts?

I've read one too many child abuse cases of pregnant or sexually active young women being tortured/maimed/killed by their own parents.

Since when does a child get to choose who makes his or her decisions?

I am strongly pro-Choice. (If I knew my HTML, I'd code that to make it bold.) But abortion is a medical procedure. Any other medical procedures are done with knowledge and consent of parents. Hell, many places require parental consent for tattoos now.

I see all of the concerns about bad parents, but a young girl pregnant is an issue for the family and the girl to deal with. Not for some random outsiders. If the pregnancy is the result of a parent or other abuser, then there should be a provision to work around this. But only in that circumstance.

I think we agree more than we disagree...Let's think of other examples where a girl can't necessarily go to her (bio) parents to get their notification/permission on an abortion:

1) She is a foster child and doesn't know where her bio parents are
2) She is homeless
3) She is living independently and is a minor

In the first case, her foster parents are her guardians.
The second case, I doubt the living conditions at home would want her to return, so what is she supposed to do?
The third case, kind of defeats the purpose of independence!

Considering how this debate can turn ugly fast, I am impressed with your response. Let me try to respond in kind:

1) She is a foster child and doesn't know where her bio parents are

Well, a foster child has been adopted by parents, so she is their child in my opinion and under the opinion of the law.

2) She is homeless

She is either homeless with family or without. Without, she needs to become a ward of the court and work from there.

3) She is living independently and is a minor

I have never encountered emancipated minors in my life so I just can't envision situations outside Hollywood millions where it happens. Perhaps that is my lack of creativity.

I will admit I might have had a different life experience than you have -- so I have a more liberal view about parental notification.

While I think parents should know, there are some occasions where it's not practical. If a kid can't go to a parent when they are in trouble, what are they supposed to do?

And making it law only means kids are going to do their darnedest to circumvent it..and not telling a parent about an abortion is not what I call misdemeanor or felony material.

But back to your responses.

#1 -- foster child means a temporary custody, not a formal adoption. I don't know the foster care system enough to say how a foster child's pregnancy would be handled.

#2 -- you really mean a homeless girl with no family should indoctrinate herself to the court for notification? The courts are already overloaded as it is with cases -- I'd consider pregnancy termination a time sensitive situation but I don't think the justice system runs on any schedule to deal with this.

#3 - I knew of young ladies from ages 15-18 who lived independently (and no they didn't have Hollywood millions behind them) and yes, a few of them did get pregnant. And at the time, they kept the kids.

First off, I agree there are some occasions where it's impractical. I think they should be few and there should be a procedure for them.

I would certainly consider failure to notify a parent of a medical procedure a felony. If you perform eye surgery on my daughter because she asks you to do so and I don't approve it, you will be kicked out of the medical field most likely and you will be prosecuted. And, of course, I can sue you. Why should this be any different. I am my daughter's mother. Not you.

The day the state claims otherwise will be the day we are the old Soviet Union.

1) If the child is under the care of the foster family, I can't see how it could be handled any other way. They are surrogate parents and responsible for ordinary medical care.

2) An ordinary homeless girl with no family BELONGS under the care of the courts. Sorry, but she should NOT be living on her own. But yes, there should be an expedited system for this.

3) In most cases, I think the issue here is younger children. If you are old enough to legally have sex, then I am OK with you making the decision to abort. That's age 16 in most cases, but not all. I actually think Virginia is 18.

But I dare anyone here to tell me a 14 year old should be allowed to make this decision on her own.

I'm pissed:mad:

her father or step-father, or mother's boyfriend -- the very people she's supposed to get "permission" to terminate her pregnancy from?

The "older man" is very often the step-father or the mother's boyfriend, sometimes an uncle or a close family friend or business associate. And the girl gets blamed for seducing the older man. This law will have terrible effects in the lives of some innocent, abused young girls. For shame, Republicans!

any cites to statistics to back that claim up?

real honest frank sex education and not the BS curriculum of the * administration's abstinence program

this bill will not help anyone - just make the pro lifers stick out their chests more

They most often support wars and the death penalty. Unless they switch on those issues, they cannot be called "pro-life".

Here's one Canadian who won't be moving down south.

I want my children to have choices, not damning scrutiny.

Is these same girls they are wanting to get their parents consent for abortion, can go through with the pregnancy, have the baby, and place it for adoption without their consent. A pregnant minor is considered 'emancipated' during the length of her pregnancy, and a minor parent is considered emancipated in making all decisions for their child. So why are we requiring notification/consent in the case of abortion, but not in any other scenario a pregnant teen may choose? It's absolutely disgusting.

Peace,
Bella
birthmom at 17
mom at 20

Anything to delay decisons, harrass, etc.