Ellen Goodman's abortion rant of the week

You can always count on Ellen Goodman to take the Democrats' talking points on abortion to heart, and this week is no exception. Goodman writes in yesterday's Boston Globe about the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act, which passed the House of Representatives last week.

Under the law, only a parent could transport a minor across state lines for an abortion. Not an aunt, a grandmother, or an older sister. "This," Goodman writes, "is why Nancy Keenan of NARAL Pro-Choice America calls it 'The Grandparent Incarceration Law.' "

That sounds so good for the evening news soundbite, but there's one problem with it: none of those people have legal responsibility for the child. If they are a legal guardian, the bill says they can take the child wherever they choose, but otherwise the child is not their responsibility.

The problem, Goodman insinuates, is that:

- It's not necessary.

"We know that about 60 percent of all pregnant teenagers already notify their parents the old-fashioned way: face to face. We know that when teenagers cross state lines, it's often to find the nearest clinic, not toavoid the law."

She doesn't say how "we" know this, but the most notable thing about that paragraph is that if
60 percent of all pregnant teenagers notified their parents, that means 40 percent did not. That, according to the Alan Guttmacher Institute, is about 100,000 teenage girls in the year 2000. The AGI does indicate through a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association that 60 percent of teens tell their parents they are sexually active, but I couldn't find anything indicating such a percentage of pregnant teens.

Also, the line about why teenagers cross state lines is subterfuge. If a pregnant teenage is crossing the state line to visit an abortion clinic without a parent in tow, it doesn't matter why. The parent, with legal responsibility for the child, may not know what the child is doing or who is motivating that action. If the laws of the state on the other side of the border are looser than those in the girl's home state, the parent might never know.

As Rep. William Clay (D-Mo.) said in Goodman's article, "It's too difficult for me to explain to the average constituent why I voted against notifying a parent that a minor child is about to get an abortion." And that brings me to Goodman's other insinuation:

- It doesn't solve the problem.

"We know as well — although we find it hard to admit — that some girls who believe 'my parents will kill me' are not far off the mark."

This, again, is subterfuge. If a minor is the subject of sexual abuse or other physical abuse by a parent, this law allows an abortion provider to instead notify the appropriate state child abuse agency. In addition, if a minor successfully petitions the court for an exception to parental consent in her state, that exception is legally valid in any other state.

Goodman finishes with several other attempts to change the subject:

• "You don't need parental consent to have sex . . . Nor do you need parental consent to continue a pregnancy."
• "What if the parent wanted an abortion and the daughter said no? Would the parent still warrant an ''immediate say"?
• "There is no right to know when their daughter is in the delivery room. Nor does any law give a parent the right to decide whether her daughter keeps the baby or puts it up for adoption."

You can do a lot of stupid things without a parent's consent. I know I did. Not every parent has the capacity to make good decisions, either, and it's entirely possible that a parent could force an abortion upon his or her minor child. But that's not the point. Society gives — no, expects — parents to guide their children through life so they can make good choices. If the parent is left out of the loop on so important an issue, one that could potentially end the life of that child, society might as well tell its children to get a job at age 6 and figure out life on their own.

Goodman finishes by inadvertently making my point: "Parents do want to know. We want to be involved in our kids' lives. So we push and pull our mutual way through adolescence. But we can't succeed on that journey by closing down state lines. It only works when we manage to keep the family conversation lines open."

And by keeping parents out of the loop on decisions such as this, those family conversation lines will never make a connection.