Hello!
I thank you for putting up the amendments and your thoughts about them...I've defnitely been grappling with them myself I really appreciate the fact that you put up links to views opposing your own on some issues. I have found that in this (especially) politically charged election, people haven't been taking the time to show both sides. However, there were two amendments for which there weren't opposing views, and I'd jsut like to put them out there for consideration.
Amendment 1 deals with parent notification of a minor's abortion. If passed, it would make it legally necessary for a minor to give parental notification before obtaining an abortion.
I agree that parents should know if their teenage daughter is going to have an abortion; but I also feel that a good parental/child realtionship would ensure that a parent would be informed as to the state of their child's health, which includes pregnancy. However, I do not feel that such a relationship can or should be mandated by GOVERNMENT. It is a PARENT'S responsibility to make sure that a trsusting relationship exist between them and their child. NO law can substitute for good parenting.
There ae many cases were a teenage girl may feel threatened enough by her family that she would feel unsafe telling her family about her pregnancy and/or decision to obtain an abortion. What if she had been raped and she comes from a family who believes rape victims "ask for it"? (There are still such people.) What if she had been raped by her father and has no mother or other legal gaurdian? Is she really going to ask her rapist for permisson to get an abortion? What if her brother raped her and she told people, but no one believed her? Horrible things happen every day...
Also, I would like to point out that no teen ever goes through the abortion process alone. Many teens bring along other trusted adults and/or friends, and EVERY patient goes through counseling at the clinic before the procedure to make sure this is what they really want to do, and after the procedure to deal with post-procedural stress or depression.
I fear the passage of this Amendment, I honestly do, becasue it is not about me, or most other young women who have good relationships with their parents. This is aobut those teens who have been abused and brutalized, raped and maimed, mentally, physically, and emotionally by THEIR OWN FAMILIES. What happens to these girls when they no longer have the choice to obtian abortions and/or the counseling that comes with it? What would happen to the babies these girls would be forced to have? Would they be left in toilets, trashcans, the woods, swamps? Would they try to self abort with pills, or (God forbid) coathangers? (This HAS been tried and HAS proven fatal.) Would they commit suicide? Would their families mueder them?
If Amendment one passes, I fear that such situations will become more common than they already are.
To recap, having your daughter trust you enough to tell you that she is pregnant and has chosen to obtain an abortion is a PARENT'S RESPONISIBILITY! It's is not the GOVERNMENT'S place or job to make sure that parents and their teenage daughters have trusting relationships.
