Controversy Over Abortions
We’ve come a long way, baby!
We’ve come so far that Sobel and Pasman can be morally indignant at the recently passed parental consent bill. They can be outraged that we would attempt “to mandate parental involvement in a minor’s decision whether or not to have an abortion.”
Minor children under California law cannot sign a contract. They can’t choose the school they will attend. They can’t be treated by a doctor, a therapist or a minister without their parents’ consent. But they can get birth control pills. They can get counseling for their sex lives. And they can get abortions. All behind their parents’ backs. One wonders how many California parents knew that?
During this period, in which California children have been emancipated from their parents’ control in matters of sexuality, we have witnessed a significant increase in teen pregnancy and teen abortion. Yet Sobel and Pasman don’t even consider the possibility of a connection between the laws and the behavior.
We have come a long way, baby! But not so far as to be intimidated by the rhetoric of the California Abortion Rights Action League--South.
GEORGE A. FORSYTH
Executive Director
Catholic League of Calif.
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