Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Need abortions?

Ann at Feministing opposes the Child Custody Protection Act.

An excerpt:
Instead the law is designed to punish teenagers who need abortions and the people who are there to help them in a time of crisis.
Need abortions? I thought abortion was a choice?

Ann also seems to have been misled or is intent on misleading others about what the legislation does.
It requires abortion providers to contact a minor's parent or guardian if she lives in a state with a parental consent or notification law......It would force largely pro-choice states (like California, which recently rejected a parental notification ballot initiative) to abide by the restrictive laws passed by states with anti-choice legislatures.

Huh? Could you please explain how that works? The law says, "..whoever knowingly transports a minor across a State line, with the intent that such minor obtain an abortion, and thereby in fact abridges the right of a parent under a law requiring parental involvement in a minor's abortion decision, in force in the State where the minor resides, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both."

California doesn't have currently have a parental involvement law so I don't understand how the legal rights of parents in California would be abridged. If the Child Custody Protection Act passes, California doesn't have to abide by the parental consent laws of other states. It just means a person who brings a minor into California from a state with a parental consent law has broken the law. I see nothing in this law (have I missed something?) which prevents abortion clinics in California from performing abortion on minors from other states without parental consent or performing abortions on minors from California without parental consent.

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