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Jewish World Review April 26, 2005 / 17 Nisan, 5765 The right to know By Alvin Williams
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
When Marcia Carroll sent her 14-year-old daughter to the bus stop, as
she did every school day, she had no idea her daughter was about to be
pressured into a life-changing decision without her knowledge or consent.
At the urging of her boyfriend's parents, Carroll's pregnant daughter
decided to have an abortion.
To skirt Pennsylvania's parent-notification law, the boyfriend's parents
arranged for the girl to go to New Jersey. There, the fetus was aborted.
Sadly, this is business as usual. Every day, hundreds of minors cross
state lines — often with the cooperation or assistance of adults — to
have abortions that would require parental notification at home.
Efforts are now being made to end the extralegal end run. The Child
Interstate Abortion Notification Act would make it illegal to transport
minors across state lines for abortions if the purpose of such transport
is to evade parent notification laws. The subject of early March
hearings before the House Judiciary Committee's constitutional
subcommittee, the legislation obviously is needed and long overdue.
Marcia Carroll and her husband were supportive parents who took great
pains to assist their daughter after they learned of her pregnancy. As
Carroll told members of Congress on March 3, "My daughter chose to have
the baby and raise it. My family fully supported my daughter's decision
to keep her baby and offered her our love and support."
According to Carroll's congressional testimony, the decision didn't sit
well with the family of their daughter's boyfriend. They "began to
harass my daughter and my family. They started showing up at our house
to express their desire for my daughter to have an abortion. When that
did not work, his grandmother started calling my daughter without my
knowledge. They would tell her that if she kept the baby she couldn't
see her boyfriend again." They even "threatened to move out of state."
The Carrolls didn't budge. "I told his family that my daughter had our
full support in her decision to keep the baby. She also had the best
doctors, counselors and professionals to help her through the pregnancy.
We all had her best interests in mind."
The Carrolls knew, of course, that since their daughter was younger than
16, she couldn't have an abortion without their consent. That's what
Pennsylvania law says. It didn't occur to them that, behind their backs,
their daughter might be whisked away to another state for an abortion.
"On February 16, I sent my daughter to her bus stop with $2 of lunch
money. I thought she was safe at school. She and her boyfriend even had
a prenatal class scheduled after school."
She never showed up, however. Instead, the boyfriend's family arranged
for her and her boyfriend to travel by train to Philadelphia. From
there, they took the subway to New Jersey. "That is where his family met
the children and took them to the abortion clinic."
When her daughter "started to cry and have second thoughts, they told
her they would leave her in New Jersey,'' Carroll told Congress. "They
planned, paid for, coerced, harassed and threatened her into having an
abortion."
The Carrolls were sickened and shocked when their daughter returned home
sobbing and recounted the day's events.
Thirty-four states currently have parental notification laws.
Unfortunately, they are too often and easily circumvented and ignored,
simply by going to another state.
The Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act will provide families
like the Carrolls with at least some assurance that their state laws
will be observed — by both their underage children and adults who might
conspire with, or pressure them to cross into another state for an abortion.
Every night, Marcia Carroll says, her young daughter is brought to tears
as she remembers her experience in New Jersey.
According to public opinion polls, Americans overwhelmingly support laws
requiring parental involvement in the abortion decisions of minor girls.
The support extends across all demographic categories: men and women;
young and old; white, black and Hispanic.
Let's hope Congress passes the proposed legislation expeditiously, so
other families don't have to face the tragedy that continues to haunt
the Carrolls.
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Alvin Williams is president and CEO of Black America's Political Action Committee. Comment by clicking here.
09/29/04: Keyes and Obama: Opening doors and opening minds © 2005, Black America's Political Action Committee Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services |
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