Associated Press, July 25, 2006
Senate to pass parental notification law
Author: LAURIE KELLMAN
WASHINGTON - A pregnant 14-year-old from Lancaster, Pa., decides to keep and raise her baby. Her boyfriend's parents drive her to a New Jersey abortion clinic to get around her home state's parental notification law. They then refuse to take her home until she ends her pregnancy.
It happened — and a national parental notification law could have stopped it, the girl's mother, Marcia Carroll, told a House panel last year.
A year after the House passed the measure, a similar version is heading toward Senate approval Tuesday with widespread public support.
Opponents, however, say the legislation would cut off an escape route for pregnant teens with abusive parents and punish confidants who might try to help them.
"We should not criminalize the grandparents or clergy members to whom a teen in trouble might turn for help," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif., who will introduce an amendment to protect such confidants from prosecution.
No one knows exactly how many girls try to cross state lines to end pregnancies to circumvent parental notification and consent laws back home.
Polls suggest there is widespread public backing for the bill, with almost three-quarters of respondents saying a parent has the right to give consent before a child under 18 has an abortion.
"This is clearly not an issue divided on pro-life or pro-choice lines," said Sen. John Ensign (news, bio, voting record), R-Nev., the bill's original sponsor. "There is broad and consistent support to preserve the rights of parents."
Under the bill, anyone who helps a pregnant minor cross state lines to obtain an abortion without the knowledge of her parents could be punished by unspecified fines and up to a year in prison. The girl and her parents would not be vulnerable to criminal penalties. The measure contains an exception for those who help underage girls get such abortions to avoid life-threatening conditions.
Democrats will present several other amendments, including one that would add exceptions for anyone helping girls to end pregnancies resulting from rape or incest.
The states without parental notification or consent laws are: Washington, Oregon, New York, Vermont, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, plus the District of Columbia.
The bill passed the House 270-157 in April 2005 after lawmakers rejected an amendment similar to Feinstein's.
The bills are S. 403 and H.R. 748.
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