Parental rights vs. abortion rights

Re “Abortion Initiative Puts Focus on Girls’ Welfare,” Oct. 17

How can any parents think that their daughters, as young as 12, would be mature enough to make a decision about abortion or any surgery, then go through it alone?

Abortion is a surgical procedure that can have serious complications, such as hemorrhage or infection, both of which can be fatal. If the parents were at least informed that this was going to take place, they could be there for their daughter and be alert to signs of complications in time to get her proper care, perhaps saving her life. In addition, complications from abortion can surface later.

This is not just a moral issue, it is an issue that has taken our rights as parents away and given them to the abortion industry.

Is it not evident that there are serious inconsistencies here? A minor can’t have an ear piercing or a tattoo without a parent’s consent, yet she can have a surgical abortion without her parent’s knowledge. Proposition 85 is just common sense and needs to be passed. It does not take away the right to have an abortion; it just lets parents be parents.

LINDA ZELIK

Torrance

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Proposition 85 is not about girls’ welfare. Quite the opposite, it puts teenage girls in harm’s way by forcing those teens who cannot talk to their parents about an unwanted pregnancy to take extreme measures such as delays in care and back-alley abortions.

That’s why people who work with teenagers and care about their safety, such as the California Teachers Assn. and the California Nurses Assn., oppose Proposition 85.

I hope that the next time The Times reports on an initiative, it will take a bit more time to understand its implications and the political agenda behind it.

MOLLY RYSMAN

Los Feliz