Parental Consent for Abortions

It is frustrating to read of yet another proposed law seeking to make abortions more difficult to obtain. This time, a GOP-led bill passed in the House would make it illegal to assist a pregnant teenager in crossing state lines to obtain an abortion without parental consent (July 19).

Of any group of people that should have unimpeded access to abortions, it is teenagers. Children born to underage mothers begin their lives with serious disadvantages that most of them never overcome. Offspring of teenagers suffer disproportionately high rates of learning disabilities, drug and alcohol abuse, mental illness and criminal activity, as well as teenage pregnancy themselves.

We should be doing everything possible to prevent children from getting pregnant in the first place, but when this fails, we must make it relatively easy for them to obtain abortions--free, on demand and without parental consent.

RICK GARTNER

Laguna Beach

* Please ask yourself, “Do I want my 12-year-old to be taken for an abortion across state lines by an acquaintance, without parental consent or even knowledge?” This is how Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove) voted, along with two California Republicans--Rep. Tom Campbell of San Jose and Rep. Stephen Horn of Long Beach (July 16). Their vote trampled parental rights. Thanks to Rep. Gary A. Condit of Ceres, the only state Democrat who stood up for parental rights.

Unfortunately California does not require parental consent, since Chief Justice Ron George and Justice Ming Chin overturned the state Supreme Court’s previous decision, which had supported the Legislature’s 1987 parental consent law.

MARISELA J. VILLAR

Santa Ana