Activists want stronger consent law. Anti-abortionists think notification legislation has too many loopholes
By Ty Meighan
Scripps Howard Austin Bureau
AUSTIN -- Five years ago, state lawmakers passed legislation requiring parental notification of abortions performed on minors. Now, some anti-abortion advocates are pushing for a stronger law that will require minors to get their parents consent before getting an abortion.
Opponents of the legislation say making it tougher for minors to get abortions will only lead to girls seeking back-alley abortions or suffering through unwanted pregnancies. Both sides are preparing for a fight over the issue this legislative session, which begins Jan. 11. The parental consent law is a top priority for one anti-abortion statewide organization in the upcoming legislative session. "In Texas, parents have no right to intervene when a physician seeks to perform an abortion on their young daughter," said Joe Pojman, executive director of the Texas Alliance for Life, which opposes abortion. "Abortion is major surgery, and parents are left in the dark. We want to restore parents' rights to protect the health and well-being of their little girls." Texas' current law requires doctors to notify parents either by phone or certified mail if a minor seeks an abortion. The law also allows minors to bypass parental notification through a judge's order. A judge could allow the abortion, for example, if there's evidence that a minor would suffer abuse if she talked to her parents about getting an abortion. There are no reliable statistics on the number of girls who have sought a judicial bypass because the cases are confidential, said Susan Hays, a Dallas attorney and co-founder of Jane's Due Process. The non-profit organization works to ensure that minors are treated fairly under the judicial bypass option of the law. Hays and other officials have serious concerns about the current parental notification law and possible parental consent legislation. They say the laws are especially dangerous for girls who don't have good relationships with their parents. "Our concern with parental consent is the same concern we had with parental notice,'' said Sarah Wheat, public affairs director for NARAL Pro-Choice Texas. "Most girls in this situation do talk to their families. The girls that don't are usually in such seriously oppressive family situations. It's those girls that are most vulnerable and would be driven to do something desperate.'' Pro-choice groups point to the death of Becky Bell, a 17-year-old Indiana resident who died in 1988 of a septic infection from a botched illegal abortion. At the time, Indiana required that minors obtain the consent of a parent or a judge before having an abortion. "In her case, she had good relations with her parents but still didn't feel like she could talk to them about it,'' Wheat said. But supporters of a tougher law in Texas say the current parental notification provision is fraught with gaping loopholes. For example, parental notification by phone may never reach a parent or guardian because they can be left on an answering machine or given to the wrong person. In addition, notification by mail may never reach a parent because it may be sent to the wrong address. "Virtually all medical procedures on a minor require a parent's consent,'' Pojman said. "That is the normal standard of medical care for minors. In Texas, parental consent is required for a minor to get her ears pierced, and a school nurse must get parents' permission to dispense aspirin to their child. Why should a major medical procedure such as abortion be different?" Supporters also say the public overwhelmingly wants a parental consent law in Texas. In the most recent Texas Poll, 81 percent favored a state law requiring parental consent for abortions performed on minors. State law requires abortion facilities to provide an annual report to the State Department of Health Services. The most recent statistics available are from 2002 in which 79,929 abortions were reported -- an increase of 2,392 from the previous year. Approximately 13 percent of abortions were performed on women or girls 16 to 19 years of age and 1.1 percent on girls 15 years old or younger, according to the health services department. "It (consent law) is just meanness because we already have a parental involvement law,'' said Hays, who handles cases of minors seeking a judicial bypass. "It's a lot of energy and effort to make life miserable for a very small percentage of minors.'' Wheat said lawmakers should instead focus on efforts to prevent unwanted pregnancies. "This (consent law) does nothing to help prevent unwanted pregnancies,'' she said. Contact Ty Meighan at 512-334-6640 or meighant@scripps.com
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