Abortion: Parental Consent

Abortion’s: Parental Consent

“In many areas of the U.S., youths who have not reached their 18th birthday have the right to seek medical and mental health treatment without their parent's or guardians knowledge or consent.” (www.positive.org) Why does a fact like this carry so much controversy. Everyday a woman gets pregnant. When a woman gets pregnant, it can either be the happiest of times or a time when a huge cloud of confusion comes over her. If that woman decides that having a baby is not the right thing for her, do you think that it should be her decision and only her decision, no matter what age, if she would like to have the baby or not?

It was once said that “if a young woman has decided to become sexually active, then she should be allowed to decide whether to have an abortion and whether to choose to involve her parents in the decision about an abortion.” (www.choice.org) You might be asking yourself, why the controversy with this topic? It is not just the controversy of this topic that causes such a debate, but it is just the topic at hand. The pros of such a topic obviously involve personal choice. Even though a woman has chosen to have sex, it does not mean in anyway that this woman should not also have the choice to make all necessary decisions about the consequences that having sex brings along. This choice should be the choice of the woman and of the man, parental consent should mean nothing. But should parental consent always mean nothing?

"Parents must give consent before their child can have their ears pierced or a tattoo put on. In fact, in public schools and emergency rooms, parents must give consent before their child can be treated with so much as an aspirin. Most voters agree that it is outrageous to allow a child to undergo any surgical procedure, let alone an invasive, irreversible procedure such as an abortion, without parental notification." (www.us today.com) When reading a quote like this, doesn’t a little or even big part of you opinion tend to shift a little bit more towards the supporting side of parental involvement? It is true that woman under the age of 18 must get parental consent for all of those little things. But when a huge thing, like becoming