Notification bill should be aborted

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Jul 28, 2006

THE ANTI-abortion bill approved by the Senate this week, which makes it a federal crime to help an under-age girl cross state lines to avoid parental notification laws, is a mean piece of legislation, which takes a politically popular concept and applies it to a range of cases that could include particularly desperate young women.

No one knows how many under-age girls seek out the help of a friend or a relative to get them out of a state that requires parental consent for an abortion and into one of the two dozen states that don't. The number may not be very large. The underlying intent of the bill's sponsors was to score pre-election points with social conservatives who are looking for reassurance that the Republican majority still cares about the abortion issue, and to do it in a way that would not alarm moderate voters who believe that parents should know if their child is pregnant and considering an abortion.

That point is unarguable, and most girls caught in that traumatic situation instinctively turn to a parent for support and counsel. But we also know that some young women are caught in situations in which that is impossible, including those in which the father or stepfather has caused the pregnancy.

Supporters of the bill conjured up images of lascivious older men ferrying off their sexual prey to out-of-state abortion clinics. Opponents envisioned a concerned grandmother or aunt, trying to help a child-victim of incest or parental abuse. But the bottom line is that the sexual predator would already be subject to prosecution for statutory rape, while the grandmother should not be the target of legal harassment at all.

President Bush has vowed to sign the bill if the Senate can agree on a final version with the House, which passed a more expansive and punitive measure. We hope opponents can find a way to head them off.

New York Times

Editorial