Ensuring Access to Confidential Health Care for Young Women
Mandatory Parental Involvement Laws
If a teen discovers she’s pregnant, what does she do? Ideally, she would be able to talk with her parents and have their support in making a decision. Sadly, we do not live in an ideal world. For a variety of reasons, including fear of abuse, teenagers sometimes feel they cannot tell their parents about their unintended pregnancies or desire to have an abortion.
Yet many states have laws that mandate at least one parent’s involvement in a teen’s abortion decision. Teenagers who feel they cannot tell their parents must either travel out of those states or obtain approval through a court or some other alternative process.
Some members of Congress would like to make it even harder for teens to obtain abortions in states that already have mandatory parental involvement laws. Anti-choice officials want to make it a federal crime to transport a minor across state lines for an abortion unless the parental involvement requirements of her home state are met. When and if such a measure becomes law, an aunt, a grandmother, or a friend who helps a teen would be subject to prison, fines, and civil suits.
Congress should not make a criminal out of a loving and responsible relative or a friend who helps a teenager obtain a legal procedure. The best way to protect young women is by providing them with information and education about how to stay safe and healthy.