Bill calls for teens to tell parents when getting abortion
Pro-abortion rights and anti-abortion activists squared off Friday over an effort to revive a law that requires girls younger than 18 to tell at least one parent before getting an abortion, a measure that supporters say would put ending a pregnancy on par with getting a tattoo or having an ear pierced.
“My 16-year-old daughter can’t get a tattoo without my permission. She cannot miss school without my permission,” Nevada Right to Life Executive Director Melissa Clement said. “Common sense and erring on the side of caution argue for parental consent.”
Assembly Bill 405 sponsored by Assembly Speaker John Hambrick, R-Las Vegas, simply calls for parental notification, Clement said.
Supporters of the bill say parental notification can help ensure children who receive an abortion receive support after the surgical procedure.
Opponents pointed to the chilling effect of any law limiting access, and said the bill would put up barriers and be a government intrusion into the right of a woman seeking an abortion. Las Vegas attorney Kathleen England called the measure naive in its goal of trying to facilitate parental involvement.
“This bill is designed to implicate and to harm and to make unsafe those young women who don’t have that kind of relationship,” England said. “We can’t legislate how we parent.”
Abortion rights activists said the abortion issue has been settled in Nevada for decades, primarily because voters in 1990 approved the Freedom of Choice Act. The ballot initiative upholds a Nevadan’s right to abortion even if the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision is overturned. A 1985 parental notification law in Nevada was challenged by Planned Parenthood and a Reno doctor.
Laura Dietsch of Crescent Counseling in Las Vegas related the story of how she had an abortion at age 17 in the early 1980s without telling her parents. She has dedicated her life to working in reproductive health and talking to young people about their options and ways to remain safe.
“My parents were white, religious, married, upper-middle class people who loved me and took amazing care of me,” she said. “I still couldn’t tell them what was going on.”
She always counsels girls to notify their parents when they’re considering an abortion, but she knows the realities of the predicament of living in a dysfunctional family.
Clement countered that parents have the right to be notified when their child is in such a crisis situation.
“The difference between adult women who make that choice and a 12-year-old is great,” she said. “Teenagers do not have the decision-making ability of an adult.”
The legislation has been reviewed by the Legislative Counsel Bureau, and no constitutional issues were found. AB405, designed to fix flaws in the current law, was debated Friday morning at a meeting of the Assembly Judiciary Committee. Proponents and opponents gathered in Carson City and via video in Las Vegas to talk to the panel. The panel met later Friday and passed the bill out of committee along party lines.
Contact Steven Moore at smoore@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4563.