NYT: Scant Drop Seen in Abortion Rate if Parents Are Told

[kskiska]

For all the passions they generate, laws that require minors to notify their parents or get permission to have an abortion do not appear to have produced the sharp drop in teenage abortion rates that some advocates hoped for, an analysis by The New York Times shows.

The analysis, which looked at six states that introduced parental involvement laws in the last decade and is believed to be the first study to include data from years after 1999, found instead a scattering of divergent trends.

For instance, in Tennessee, the abortion rate went down when a federal court suspended a parental consent requirement, then rose when the law went back into effect. In Texas, the rate fell after a notification law went into effect, but not as fast as it did in the years before the law. In Virginia, the rate barely moved when the state introduced a notification law in 1998, but fell after the requirement was changed to parental consent in 2003.

Since the United States Supreme Court recognized states' rights to restrict abortion in 1992, parental involvement legislation has been a cornerstone in the effort to reduce abortions. Such laws have been a focus of divisive election campaigns, long court battles and grass-roots activism, and are now in place in 34 states. Most Americans say they favor them.

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http://nytimes.com/2006/03/06/national/06abortion.html?hp&ex=1141621200&en=79533d9d7cb1cc74&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[brooklynite]

1. And, watch the conservatives say...

"see, nothing to worry about. Everyone who wants an anortion still gets one. So, why not pass a notification law anyway?"

[roseBudd]

2. of course parents don't want Britanny's life ruined by a teen pregnancy

[DoYouEverWonder]

3. So telling your parents you're pregnant

is having the opposite effect from what people expected? Instead of the parents fighting to keep the baby, they're hustling their kids off to the abortion clinic instead. LOL.

[LisaL]

10. The abortion rate went down, according to the article.

So, how is it having opposite effect?

[DoYouEverWonder]

11. Read it again

"the abortion rate went DOWN when a federal court SUSPENDED a parental consent requirement."

[Demeter]

4. The Power Of Fallacious Reasoning

Why anyone would think that parents would want their minor daughter to carry to term is beyond me. IF that was the thinking behind parental notification, then it should be ruled ineffective and removed from the process.

If the idea was to ensure that children would be outed for their sexual forays, harassed, shamed, punished, beaten or killed for their sexual exuberance, then DITTO.

In fact, I can't think of one legitimate argument for having parental notification, other than maintaining parental dominance over the rapidly maturing teen. Is this something worth legislating? Is there no violation of Constitutional protections here? Certainly there is some violation of the process of a child growing up and attaining adulthood.

[Ilsa]

13. They are brainwashed into believing that a teen getting an

abortion will have extreme emotional problems and develop breast cancer. Really. I see it in the LTTE all the time.

[MGKrebs]

15. I think it's supposed to be a deterrent.

That's just my opinion. So much of the right wing aganeda is designed to give them an excuse to abandon people they can't control, even their own kids. "Hey, we tried to teach them, but they wouldn't listen". Then they pitch them overboard and consider them outcasts and no longer, well, human.

[Solly Mack]

5. I doubt the forced birth Massahs and the pro-rapists

are getting the message.

Parents don't want Suzy Q giving birth.

Even when the parents are forced birth Massahs and pro-rapists themselves, and want to prevent other women from getting an abortion, they still don't want their own child to do so.

[Toucano]

6. This analysis is useless.

It assumes the only factor in the number of abortions is the status of the notification law.

There are many other variables that haven't been considered.

[Ilsa]

12. I would have to agree. Availability of social aid is another

factor. If the perception is that you cans till go to college and get financial aid because you are a young parent, a teen may decide to follow through on the pregnancy, whereas decreases in these programs may lead young women to abort so they don't carry the financial burden alone.

Availability of abortion services or medical care is another factor.

[mainer]

7. And teen pregnancies up in town that stopped teaching birth control

It just got reported in the Portland Press herald today (maine). While other Maine school districts that DO teach BC saw teen pregnancies go down, in the town of Westbrook (which STOPPED teaching contraception) saw its teen pregnancies go up 14 percent.

It seems pretty suggestive that giving teens BC information does in fact cause pregnancy rates to drop (duh), but some parents still insist that only abstinence be taught. A surefire prescription for teens to get pregnant.

[robcon]

8. I have a teenage daughter

I think the idea that she might have an abortion without notifying me and her mother, and without asking us about it, is troubling. Whether that should be a law, rather than an issue between daughter and parents, is unresolved in my mind.

There are possible desperate circumstances, in which she might be so troubled that she wouldn't discuss it with us. I'd like assurance that she would, but I'm still not sure that adds up to a legal requirement.

[Samurai_Writer]

9. I got pregnant when I was 16

When I told my mom, the first words out of this very Catholic woman was "Do you want an abortion?" However, I had waited too long to tell her, and being Catholic at the time myself, I didn't want one. But the fact that she even suggested it to me shocked the hell out of me. I thought when I told her and my dad, that they would completely freak out and possibly kick me out of the house for being a 'slut' (this was back in 1977). Of course, what happened after that is a whole other story.

Most pregnant teens (probably 99% of them) tell their parents. The ones who don't have a good reason not to.

[Kailassa]

14. Be there.

Demeter

If the idea was to ensure that children would be outed for their sexual forays, harassed, shamed, punished, beaten or killed for their sexual exuberance, then DITTO.

There will be cases in which this will happen. I only survived my parents discovering when I was 13 that incestuous rape had left me pregnant because the torture they put me through caused a miscarriage before I had to swallow the packet of pills they had got for me. I was left in no doubt that if I did not co-operate and swallow the pills, I would have a much less pleasant death. The sad part was, I adored my family, and believed it was quite right that I should die to prevent anyone from discovering what my 4 older brothers had been doing and turning against them for it.

To all the good parents here who would want to know if their daughter is pregnant, just keep communicating with them about all the little things in life. Never let it show if you're shocked by anything, if they tell you about indulging in behaviour that you don't approve of, use subtle ways to encourage them to think about just who they really want to be and how they want to behave. Make sure you know who their friends are and what's important to them, make sure they know that you love them.

Forcing a child to tell solves nothing, but being there for them through all the silly and petty issues that teenagers find so unedurable gives them a lifeline that is always there waiting to be grabbed when they need it.

A few years ago, my 11 year old granddaughter, a stubborn hothead who has always had a habit of ringing me to discuss things when she has behaved really badly, confided in me that she was addicted to cybering with strangers on the internet. We had a long discussion about sex and relationships and hormones and the feelings girls can get, but I think the clincher that really made her determined to stop was my boyfriend talking to her about the fact that he would never have done that lightly with me, because he respects me, and explaining about the need for friendship and respect, and how she deserved those things.

A discussion like that is only possible if you have put the groundwork in, chatting, caring, sharing, and being there for them. Every child needs to know their parents really know them and accept them as they are, without that, the belief that teenagers go through that they are smart and their parents are old irrelevant stupids will never be overcome.

Btw, my darling grandaughter has real friends on the internet now, girls she knows IRL as well, and no longer acts in a secretive way at the computer.

[fasttense]

16. Girls have been having abortions since before Jesus was on this earth

They will continue to have abortions no matter what laws and barriers this society decides to put up. When abortions were illegal, illegal abortions were the top criminal activity only surpassed by gambling and drugs. Now that gambling is legal, I guess in SD and Miss, illegal abortions will be the number two criminal activity. Without stupid laws all those criminals would go unemployeed.

Excuse my spelling I can't seem to get the spell checker to work.