copied from another site
http://community.babycenter.com/post/a1963725/foca_parental_consent_morality_clause

Why is it that parents have to give consent for their child (up to age 18 and beyond if the child is still in high school) to take medication (aspirin, tylenol, prescriptions, even OTC eye drops in some instances), yet that same child is allowed to go to an abortion clinic, submit to a medical procedure (fraught w/ danger as is any instance of being put under anesthesia), and leave all w/o parental notification and/or consent? This same child may or may not have been raped, but since parental notification isn't required, the parents will never know and be able to help said child deal w/ the after-effects of rape.


To my knowledge, most states have laws against children having sex (rape in most states precludes anyone who cannot give consent either by age and/or mental/physical incapacity). If children do not have the legal ability to consent to sex, why should they have the legal ability to consent to an abortion?

In most states, after a certain age (generally in the mid to late teens), w/ (in some cases after 16 w/o) parental consent teens can get married & enjoy marital bliss. If the law doesn't recognize that a child can make a life-long decision to wed another person (which in this day & age is very easily annulled), why are these same children allowed to make a life-altering decision to rid themselves of a pregnancy?

If children aren't legally given the freedom of choice to engage in sex, why are they legally entitled to abort the product of said sex?



IM a stickler for the responsibility/authority balance and it just puzzles me that as a parent I am responsible for and ACCEPT responsibility for my children, but that other adults are permitted to do things with them that could affect their very HEALTH and I dont have legal protection which gives me any say,,,,,

if the abortion goes wrong, if there are physical or emotional after affects, who will have to be there to get that child through? not the doctors or lawyers for sure,,,

Our laws are slightly different here, and vary state to state.

16 is the age of consent here, an over 18 does not require parental involvement in abortion....there is a psych evaluation done prior to a woman terminating a pregnancy, and a strict timeline of pregnancy able to be terminated...via a clinic situation.

The people who are for this bizarre law say they are protecting teenage girls from parents who are abusive and would possibly assault the girl when finding out she is pregnant. So, their solution is to put all our young girls at risk to protect those whose parents are abusive dirt bags.

Needless to say, I agree with this article and don't think children should have the right to consent to an abortion without parental consent.

The school requires a consent from parent because they are taking a responsibility when they use medication on your child, so they want to make sure they cannot be sued.
When an adolescent goes into an abortion clinic, she takes a risk for her own body - nobody is taking this decision in her place. And her body is her own, not her parent's.


If an adolescent trusts her parents, she can always have the choice to tell them about the rape and get comfort and help. She may also choose to do so AFTER the abortion, so that the parents cannot pressure her and decide for her.
If she does NOT trust her parents, then it actually was a good thing she wasn't required to have their consent for the abortion. Some religious parents will go very far, from psychological trauma to forced marriages and many other life-changing decisions if they learn about an aborted pregnancy.


They cannot consent to sex legally because they are not mature enough to take this decision without being manipulated. If they aren't mature enough to have sex, they CERTAINLY aren't mature enough to have a BABY and grow a new life in a secure and safe manner, let along provide adequately for that life in the years to come. Letting the pregnancy happen holds much higher risks for her life than aborting.


Keeping the pregnancy is an even bigger life-altering decision.



You do realize that giving birth is MUCH, MUCH more dangerous for the mother's health than an abortion, don't you?


If she can't care properly for the baby or if the pregnancy goes wrong, who will have to be there to that baby through?

"The school requires a consent from parent because they are taking a responsibility when they use medication on your child, so they want to make sure they cannot be sued.
When an adolescent goes into an abortion clinic, she takes a risk for her own body - nobody is taking this decision in her place. And her body is her own, not her parent's."

this is a conflicting statement. Either her body is her own or it isnt. If it is, the school should be no more concerned with being sued over granting her request(which at worst might lead to temporary sickness) than the abortion doctor who grants her request and potentially scars her for life.

"They cannot consent to sex legally because they are not mature enough to take this decision without being manipulated. If they aren't mature enough to have sex, they CERTAINLY aren't mature enough to have a BABY and grow a new life in a secure and safe manner, let along provide adequately for that life in the years to come. Letting the pregnancy happen holds much higher risks for her life than aborting. "



THIS TOO is conflicting, either they are mature enough to not be manipulated or they arent. If they are not mature enough to not be manipulated regarding sex , than they are not mature enought to not be manipulated regarding abortion.

"You do realize that giving birth is MUCH, MUCH more dangerous for the mother's health than an abortion, don't you?"


"Keeping the pregnancy is an even bigger life-altering decision. "


says who?


"You do realize that giving birth is MUCH, MUCH more dangerous for the mother's health than an abortion, don't you? "


again, says who, and by what definition of 'safe'

of course you run more risks over a nine month time frame than you do over a forty five minute one, there are literally thousands of moments for something to go 'wrong' during a nine month term compared to what 'could' go wrong during forty five minutes.

IF we are strictly talking about physical risks, but we arent, or at least Im not.

If she can't care properly for the baby or if the pregnancy goes wrong, who will have to be there to that baby through?

nine out of ten times, the grandparents, or siblings, or other support group around that teen,,,

Well, sorry, but not exactly.
The difference is that the doctor who grants her request is protected by the law. Not the school.

Seriously - think of it the other way around.
As far as I am concerned, an adolescent should require parental consent to KEEP the baby. Since THEY are the one who will have to provide for that child in addition to continue to provide for their own children, the baby should be aborted by default unless the parents are fully ready to support it.



Let's clarify those double negatives.
Adolescent can be manipulated into sex. They can be manipulated into abortion (parental pressure, boyfriend pressure, etc), and finally they can be manipulated into keeping the baby (parental pressure, religious pressure, etc).
At the end of the day, however, what it comes down to is this:
they made a mistake like any teenager will do and had unprotected sex with someone they most likely won't be with for long, or are with for the wrong reason at this age. They may even have been raped or been pressured into having sex. And now they are stuck with something unwanted, growing into their body, that will change their whole live forever. If they abort, they have FAR LESS long term consequences, far less life changes, and far less health risks. If she aborts, she doesn't have to forget all chances of higher studies, doesn't have to throw away all of her plans for life, doesn't have to marry someone she may not love or worst, someone who raped her or used her.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/8349898/Abortion-is-safer-than-having-a-baby-doctors-say.html


http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/health/articles/2011/01/27/study_says_abortion_is_not_mental_health_risk/

ITs all STILL inconsistent. The message is that children are not yet mature and their PARENTS are responsible for them. You can bet , if a fifty year old man sleeps with a sixteen year old girl because she wanted to, society isnt gonna say it was her body and her choice, like they do when their is a pregnancy which arises.


My position is that until a child is GROWN enough to deal with the consequences of their actions, and as long as they are still not grown enough for their PARENTS to not be LEGALLY RESPONSIBLE for their actions, parents should have the LEGAL right to be informed by a SCHOOL and A DOCTOR before they do ANYTHING to their child.

People act as if the abortion just puts an END to anything the child will have to deal with as a result of pregnancy and that giving birth and RAISING the child or giving birth and GIVING it up will cause more harm because it causes more PHYSICAL risk and sacrifice. But children are more than just physical, they are emotional, and an abortion can be just as LIFECHANGING for them as a pregnancy and should not be considered something they should be able to go through without CONSENT and NOTICE of those who are responsible for their care.



think of some other life altering medical, say the child finds out they have a tumor in their abdomen,, its gonna make the rest of their life fairly uncomfortable if its not removed. Should that child than be given the legal authority to allow the doctors to REMOVE that tumor, on the grounds of how much more (longer) they would have to deal with discomfort and how their life would change if they dont have it removed?,,,,No

it would be the parents decision whether the surgery should be done, regardless of whatever perceived life changes others perceive to be automatic by NOT taking it out.

The best solution is simple education for our children so they are able to make choices for themselves. Children are being exposed to many things at an earlier age then before. I think it's up to parents to be open and honest with their children so that "if" any situation does come up then the child feels ok with discussing it with the parent.
I know that this is off topic a little but when it comes to how the government does things, there is a lot of grey area to cover.
Having a child takes responsibility that most don't realize and it's a shock to most when they have a child to now think of, take care of and raise to the best of their ability. Having an aborition also carries risk factors that most don't realize unless they have been in that situation themselves.
How many people do you know of who have actually planned to have a child?
When it comes to the age of consent in Canada, I know I was shocked. It's not fare that parents need to consent to some things and not others but that's how things are done whether we argree with it or not.

thats just it, we bombard them with a conflicting message CONSTANTLY, almost all of the network(non cable) stations which have shows featuring teens somehow highlight Sexual interactions, sex is selling half of the products they see in commercials, sex is the subject of most songs being played on the radio and sold in the stores,,,but then we think just telling them that they arent 'ready' yet is going to offset THAT much promotion? we teach them on one hand that its their body and sex is a natural and reasonable activity for them to engage in , but when they do, it can only be within certain restrictions or if there are consequences that occur like pregnancy or disease it was merely a matter of them not being SAFE enough and nothing to do with them being sexually involved in the first place

one thing I learn from parenting is how important CONSISTENCY is with kids, and the message regarding sex is OVERWHELMINGLY inconsistent in our culture,,,IMHO

and yes, I do know, we cant tell others how to raise their kids , but its a shame that so many have thrown up their hands and given in to what the kids WANT to do (and will therefore do with or without our blessing, according to popular belief) and what the kids NEED to be being taught to do,,

I didn't have someone to turn to when I was growing up so I encourage my daughter to ask me whatever she wants to ask and I do my best to answer her questions. I know that sex is all around us and I don't need to expose my child to something that she isn't old enough to understand but I try to explain it in a way that she can understand. I was surprized the other day when she brought home a letter from school about Life Changes(she's only in grade 4) and I felt like wow. On the one hand, I've already had a few conversations with her and I'm kinda interested in what they will cover in class.

interesting,, what life changes does a fourth grader have,,? keep me posted,,lol

USA urged to confront shocking maternal mortality rate

"Amnesty International’s report Deadly Delivery: The Maternal Health Care Crisis in the USA, urges action to tackle a crisis that sees between two and three women die every day during pregnancy and childbirth in the USA.

A total of 1.7 million women a year, one-third of all pregnant women in the country, suffer from pregnancy-related complications.

The report also revealed that severe pregnancy-related complications that nearly cause death -- known as "near misses" -- are rising at an alarming rate, increasing by 25 percent since 1998."

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/usa-urged-confront-shocking-maternal-mortality-rate-2010-03-12

it's to discuss the changes that are going to happen but I was surprized to get it when she is in grade 4. I didn't cover that until I was in grade 6 & 7. So yeah, everything is being discussed at earlier ages then before.

this one kind of makes me think about the argument/excuse that the pill doesnt work 100 percent of the time

its not magic, pregnancy or the pill,

the pill has to be taken regularly and consistently to work
and in 98 percent of instances , IF it is taken properly, it will work

likewise with pregnancy, women have to get prenatal CARE and women with proper prenatal care reduce risks SIGNIFICANTLY

the above mentioned 'factoid' really doesnt elaborate on what type of care, if any, these women with pregnancy related complications are getting

I can imagine its not unlikely that fewer women have healthcare to begin with , contributing to an increase in complications that could otherwise be avoided or corrected,,,

OH!!! aunty ethel,,, gotcha

What should I do If my friends 16 year old daughter, came on to me and implied she wanted to have sex with me?

Let your friend know, you may not be the only one she is 'offering' herself to in this way and its something that should be addressed.