Abortion? Not-abortion? Either Way, As Long As Yong Women in Unstable Families Are Placed In Danger!
By Ann — the actual feminist one, I mean — has a good discussion of recent events in North Dakota. In addition to a draconian abortion ban that would be triggered if Roe is overturned, the legislature failed to pass a law that would guarantee teens the right to seek prenatal care. Ann explains the issue:
Conservatives are wailing that explicitly stating there is no parental notification requirement would “drive a wedge between the daughter and the parents.” But isn’t it obvious that, if a young woman has chosen to carry her pregnancy to term without telling her parents, she most likely has a compelling reason for keeping them in the dark? And if a teenage girl faces very little support at home for keeping her pregnancy — which, presumably, is the reason she would keep this info from her parents — then you would think anti-abortion activists would be in favor of this legislation. After all, they love to publicize cases where parents have coerced their daughters into abortions. You would think that this legislation would prevent that from happening.
Seeing as how the pro-choice movement is actually pro-choice, not pro-abortion (as the antis love to characterize us), we can agree it’s bad for parents to force their daughters into abortions AND bad to force them to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term.
The disconnect in requiring parental notification for abortion but not for prenatal care has long been pointed out as part of the legal rhetoric opposing laws that meddle with teens’ reproductive rights. A Guttmacher Policy Review article from 2000 found no states that require parental consent or notification for teens to receive prenatal care, whereas more than 20 required it for abortion.
Right. Teenagers should be permitted to choose abortion, and they should also be guaranteed medical care if they choose to carry their pregnancies to term.