Post by allieb on Mar 3, 2009 8:27:38 GMT -5
Picture a sixteen year old girl being dragged out of her house in handcuffs. Her cheeks are stained with tears and her pants are stained with blood. She’s being arrested for manslaughter along with many other federal charges, because she put her baby in a trash can minutes after being born. Nearly one million women under the age of twenty get pregnant each year. Some carry out the birth, others obtain legal abortions, and many will result to more extreme measures of self abortion. This could have been avoided, if it was legal for girls under the age of eighteen to obtain abortions without parental consent or notification. This could possibly be a dramatization, but what would you do after waking up to nine months of morning sickness, hiding your belly under baggy sweatshirts, and afraid you ruined your life after giving away your most sacred position to a guy that “loved you”, all because you are petrified to seek help, and our constitution says you cannot get an abortion unless you involve your disapproving parents? Desperate measures may not be far out of mind.
If a young woman who is insecure and unready to be a mother is forced by law to be, it could be immensely harming physically and mentally in result denying a legal abortion could force such girls to use immoral illegal means to abort the fetus. It is a sad fact that countless girls put into this situation would not be able to turn to her parents for help. Many parents would not understand the different emotions a pregnant teenager is going through, and in some cases fear is the most preceded feeling especially when living in a strict household. My mother told me when I was eleven years old; if you get pregnant don’t bother coming to me for help in fact don’t bother coming home because a girl that stupid who would ruin her life so young is no daughter of mine. My mother is good honorable parent who sets high standards to live by, and is just looking out for my well being. Unfortunately many other parents would agree with that statement along with her, so what kind of message does that send to a scared innocent child who by law is bound to her current state of being for nine hopeless months? Then the pregnant young woman is left with two options. She can risk telling her parents in hopes they allow her to receive an abortions along with a lifetime of disappointment, criticism, and life altering changes, such as being kicked out of the house or physically abused herself, or do anything she can to hide her problem and self abort the baby. However both of these extreme lose-lose measures could be avoided, with the creation of a third option. The young woman is accompanied to a clinic by a friend or supervisor of her choice, she receives an abortion, and everyone involved is content with the outcome of the difficult situation.
If a child must have a consenting parent to obtain an abortion the child’s best interests might not be in mind. Meaning the parent could force the girl to get the abortion or prevent her from having one at all, each of these choices sole being the mother-to-be decision. There is an alternative way to gaining consent for abortion, through the judiciary system. This is not affective for several reasons. The court may not grant approval, the trial and hearings may take too long and the option of abortion will become obsolete, and you still would need to involve your parents, which in some cases is what is trying to be avoided in the first place. This option is another way the state can control a young women’s body and what she can do with it.
The law states that abortions are considered to be a medical procedure, and by law every parent must provide consent when a minor in their care needs one performed. Legally it is the parent’s choice whether or not they want their child under-going a procedure. However should it be? If surveyed every adult in the room would say, “Yes” and every minor “no”. Ironically at some point that very adult was a child and would have said, “No” because they once knew what it feels like to be controlled by their parents and it’s that control they stand for now when it’s not harming or bothering them. Parents are supposed to help guide us into adulthood, aid or growing, and look out for our best interests; however is it accurate to say every parent knows exactly what we want? Parents don’t have the right to know every single decision their child makes, and in many cases a child would hide that decision away from a parent out of shame. Choosing to get a secret abortion is not selfish in fact it is a selfless act that takes courage, because if a child decides to take on the responsibility, it should be hers alone, and people should respect the reasoning behind her decision. Sometimes kids are protecting their parents by keeping secrets, and they will never realize that.
Young women under the age of eighteen should be able to acquire an abortion without their parents consent or notification. The day a girl consents to sex, is the day she becomes mature enough to handle the consequences, whether she wants to or not. No one knows what it feels like to be in the situation to say, “I want an abortion,” unless they have done so themselves, so until the day you do, you have zero right to tell a young women who to involve. About two thousand eight hundred teens in the United States get pregnant every day. That means every sexually active teenager wakes up every day with a new chance to become another statistic. Out of the girls in this room, how many would want the right to take care of their own mistakes without involving your parents?
If a young woman who is insecure and unready to be a mother is forced by law to be, it could be immensely harming physically and mentally in result denying a legal abortion could force such girls to use immoral illegal means to abort the fetus. It is a sad fact that countless girls put into this situation would not be able to turn to her parents for help. Many parents would not understand the different emotions a pregnant teenager is going through, and in some cases fear is the most preceded feeling especially when living in a strict household. My mother told me when I was eleven years old; if you get pregnant don’t bother coming to me for help in fact don’t bother coming home because a girl that stupid who would ruin her life so young is no daughter of mine. My mother is good honorable parent who sets high standards to live by, and is just looking out for my well being. Unfortunately many other parents would agree with that statement along with her, so what kind of message does that send to a scared innocent child who by law is bound to her current state of being for nine hopeless months? Then the pregnant young woman is left with two options. She can risk telling her parents in hopes they allow her to receive an abortions along with a lifetime of disappointment, criticism, and life altering changes, such as being kicked out of the house or physically abused herself, or do anything she can to hide her problem and self abort the baby. However both of these extreme lose-lose measures could be avoided, with the creation of a third option. The young woman is accompanied to a clinic by a friend or supervisor of her choice, she receives an abortion, and everyone involved is content with the outcome of the difficult situation.
If a child must have a consenting parent to obtain an abortion the child’s best interests might not be in mind. Meaning the parent could force the girl to get the abortion or prevent her from having one at all, each of these choices sole being the mother-to-be decision. There is an alternative way to gaining consent for abortion, through the judiciary system. This is not affective for several reasons. The court may not grant approval, the trial and hearings may take too long and the option of abortion will become obsolete, and you still would need to involve your parents, which in some cases is what is trying to be avoided in the first place. This option is another way the state can control a young women’s body and what she can do with it.
The law states that abortions are considered to be a medical procedure, and by law every parent must provide consent when a minor in their care needs one performed. Legally it is the parent’s choice whether or not they want their child under-going a procedure. However should it be? If surveyed every adult in the room would say, “Yes” and every minor “no”. Ironically at some point that very adult was a child and would have said, “No” because they once knew what it feels like to be controlled by their parents and it’s that control they stand for now when it’s not harming or bothering them. Parents are supposed to help guide us into adulthood, aid or growing, and look out for our best interests; however is it accurate to say every parent knows exactly what we want? Parents don’t have the right to know every single decision their child makes, and in many cases a child would hide that decision away from a parent out of shame. Choosing to get a secret abortion is not selfish in fact it is a selfless act that takes courage, because if a child decides to take on the responsibility, it should be hers alone, and people should respect the reasoning behind her decision. Sometimes kids are protecting their parents by keeping secrets, and they will never realize that.
Young women under the age of eighteen should be able to acquire an abortion without their parents consent or notification. The day a girl consents to sex, is the day she becomes mature enough to handle the consequences, whether she wants to or not. No one knows what it feels like to be in the situation to say, “I want an abortion,” unless they have done so themselves, so until the day you do, you have zero right to tell a young women who to involve. About two thousand eight hundred teens in the United States get pregnant every day. That means every sexually active teenager wakes up every day with a new chance to become another statistic. Out of the girls in this room, how many would want the right to take care of their own mistakes without involving your parents?