From Khouse e-news:
TEENS AND SECRET ABORTIONS A teenage girl in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire made British news earlier this month because the school health care worker who encouraged her to have an abortion did not bother to contact the girl's parents.
After learning she was pregnant, fourteen-year-old Melissa Smith sought the help of teachers who sent her to a National Teenage Pregnancy Strategy service offered at the school. Without first seeking to notify the girl's mother, a 21-year-old health care worker referred Melissa to a local hospital for pills containing chemicals that would induce an abortion. The hospital did not require parental consent in order to give the pills to a minor.
Melissa's mother, Maureen Smith, found out about the pregnancy through one of her daughter's friends and that night talked to Melissa about the situation. Through the conversation with her mother, Melissa changed her mind about the abortion and decided that she would keep the baby. However, by that time the chemicals had already started doing their damage and the hospital later said it was too late to save the baby.
“She had an appendix operation last year and I had to sign two consent forms,” said her mother, “Yet no one thought it necessary to tell me about this.” She said, “It's devastating that she faced going through a termination without me by her side. She's just a kid. I feel like my right as a parent has been taken away, like I've had my heart ripped out, so God knows what my daughter is going through.”
The girl's 14-year-old boyfriend is also extremely upset over the abortion and the loss of the baby. The boy's mother said, “We phoned the hospital on Thursday evening and they assured us everything would be fine. And they did plan to keep the baby – on the Friday they were very happy, planning the future, as fourteen-year-olds do. Then on the Saturday, it all came to a head when it was too late, the termination had already started.”
While parents have a primary interest and responsibility over the health and welfare of their children, they are often treated as irrelevant in the abortion issue. Minor children must have parental permission for nearly every type of medical care and procedure, except when deciding to have an abortion.
A spokesman for Mansfield Primary Care Trust said, “If a young person attends a family planning clinic with an unwanted pregnancy… she will be counseled by a clinician and an assessment made as to whether she is competent to make a decision regarding a termination. If she was found to be competent then a referral would be made to a gynecologist. Whether a parent was informed would be the patient's decision.”
This kind of attitude outrages parents like Maureen Smith. “How can a 21-year-old think she knows my child better than I do?” she asked.
Parents face similar issues in the United States, where minors can be referred to out-of-state abortion clinics if they live in a state that requires parents to be notified before their children can get abortions. During the 105th, 106th, and the 107th Congresses, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Child Custody Protection Act, which would make it a federal crime to transport minors across state lines to get around state parental notification laws. The bill has been held up time and again in the Senate however, and the 2003 version of the bill (H.R. 1755) is still waiting for a vote in the House, though it now has 101 cosponsors.
One thing that infuriates me in most political issues is the twisting of language and double-speak by those on the left. In this case, they completely disregard what's best for this young girl. It's bad enough she got pregnant, but being too young to really think through the consequences of both her situation, and possible choices, they make the choice basically FOR her while stomping on the rights of her parents.
I've read too many stories about what goes on in abortion clinics to allow any Left-Liberal to get away with using the term “Pro-Choice” in regards to their views on the issue. Most of the hard-core leftists that are in Planned Parenthood and the Abortion Death clinics are not for the woman's right to chose, they are for the Doctor's right to chose because the doctor always choses death. It is rare that I read a story about a clinic counseling a woman on options that allow the child to live, or exercise full disclosure and inform the woman of the consequences of abortion.
Before becoming a born-again Christian, I leaned to the left in my political views. I was “pro-choice” at the time. It's because of this that I am confident that most people who lean to the left (as opposed to being completely Leftist) are ok with abortions in the extreme situations, but are not for abortion-on-demand as pushed by Planned Parenthood and NOW. While I was at one time against the abolition of abortion, I never supported it as a form of birth control. Now, I am only for it in the less than 1/10% of cases where the mother's life is in danger. As for rape and incest, you don't murder the innocent involved. If you're going to murder anyone in the case of rape or incest (incest for the most part being by rape), it should be the Father.
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No Comments “Pro-Abortion & Anti-Choice”
Well stated for a rant.
It also seems to me that were the realities of abortion more prevalent more people would be horrified and possibly take action. Because the procedure is done in a clinic, behind closed doors, the public is seldom exposed to the atrociousness of the crime. When posters or billboards of aborted babies are carried or driven through the streets of downtown America there are those who try to block exposing the graphic results of a typical abortion from being seen. If it’s nudity or some other vulgarity anyone can get away with it all day long but not a dead child. I think more people need to face the realities of 1.5M abortions a year before we sear our conscious to the point that it’s too late.