In today’s post I will examine the use of parental consent laws in North Carolina, pertaining to medical abortions performed on minors, and will prove that they are seemingly pointless laws. Currently, in North Carolina, for a minor (under the age of 18) to receive an abortion they must have parental consent. But, loosely defined, North Carolina allows for parental consent to be that of a grandparent, sibling (over the age of 18), or trusted family friend. If you can not receive any of the given, you are allowed to get permission for an abortion through a counseling waiver, judicial bypass, or even a doctor’s written consent. While many people support parental notification laws, those who do not support these laws argue that the minor may try to avoid notifying their parents of their pregnancy by performing dangerous abortions themselves. Through North Carolina’s loose laws, these children may be able to bypass the requirements of parental consent ensuring that they will receive safer abortions. Personally, I am not quite sure why North Carolina even has parental consent laws given that it is so easy to get around them. Do you think that these laws serve a purpose, or that they simply create more paperwork?
UPDATE: Here a well defined article on the binary issue of parental consent/notification laws that I recently found. Though this article does not define the issue relative to North Carolina specifically, it provides a plethora of information for those interested: http://www.reproductiverights.org/pub_fac_mandconsent.html
3 comments:
I think that this law is simply pointless because it is barely enforced. The biological parents or the parental guardians should be considered the "parents." I feel that this law serves a purpose in which the parents should know that they're daughter is about to have a surgical procedure done. This law should be enforced more because parents need to become more aware of their children's lives and health. The only time when parents shouldn't know about abortion is when the daughter is completely independent financially.
I don’t think the system is that easy to get around.. Obviously, the biological parents and legal guardians should be allowed to make the judgment. Counseling and judicial bypasses are necessary for some people. Let us face it, not everybody has the fortune of having parents that care and our there for the children. For a minor to get an abortion, a judicial by-pass may be the only available option for a minor who wants to a legal procedure.
This law, while functionally pointless, is in effect primarily for the sake of politics. The principle of having someone under 18 needing parental consent sounds good to many people. In my opinion this law is put in place primarily to satisfy public opinion yet its clear that many politicians do not believe in how practical the law is.
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