The ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) has, in all its massive wisdom, declared that parental consent for abortion is harmful. The organization released a report this week on the Michigan state law passed in 1991, which demands permission from a parent before the procedure can be conducted on a minor.
The survey solicited opinions from attorneys who have fought against parental consent, abortion providers, and primary care physicians who provide health care to reproductive-age minors:
"Michigan's parental consent law violates a range of human rights, including young people's rights to health, to privacy and confidentiality of health services and information, to nondiscrimination and equality, to decide the number and spacing of children, and to be free from cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment."
The report also stated that 700 minors in Michigan receive abortions annually, and 100 of those children are forced to get what is called a bypass to parental consent from a judge.
"I think a lot of people don't question this law, because they think that it makes perfect sense — that a parent would want to be involved in their child's abortion decision," claimed Jo Becker, advocacy director of the children's rights division at Human Rights Watch.
The 37-page document pointed out the other side of the equation explained by Becker. As one attorney said, some clients had a complicated history and relationship with guardian or parent and feared retribution. Another underage client had experienced a parent "beating them up, CPS [Michigan's Children's Protective Services] was involved, and they were afraid their parents would go off on them again if they found out they were pregnant."
Then, there is the subjectiveness of judges and a continued argument from abortion advocates. "The irony of this law is that young people have to prove to a judge that they're mature enough to make an abortion decision," claimed Becker. "And yet the law doesn't test a young person's maturity to bear a child and raise a child."
ACLU Stand Down
Right to Life of Michigan's legislative director, Genevieve Marnon, calls the prospect of eliminating consent "wildly out of step" with most Michiganders' family values. "Children under 18 are required to be in the care of adults for a reason – this advocacy piece throws common sense to the wind to instead drive a political agenda."
The ACLU was once integral to the fight for civil rights. Roger Baldwin and a few friends created the organization in 1920 around the need to protect the new 19th Amendment, allowing women to vote. An effective group over the decades in safeguarding constitutional rights has seemingly been overtaken by special interest groups and relegated to seeking new and outlandish ways to shock the American public on illogical cases and causes.
Denying parental rights is at the top of that list. But why start with abortion? Parental consent is needed for piercing body parts, applying for a license permit, and opening a bank account. But non-emergency surgery on a minor?
"The organizations who published this advocacy piece and their political allies believe they know what is best for children, not parents. They are actively seeking to remove parents from one of the most important decisions a minor girl could face, one that everyone acknowledges will have a lifelong impact regardless of the decision," Marnon said.
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