Abortion on demand
The Senate yesterday passed a bill that would make it illegal for someone to transport an underage girl across a state border for an abortion in an attempt to circumvent a state's parental notification laws.
This is really a no-brainer. The vast majority of the public favors parental notification laws, and it's the extremists at NOW, NARAL and Planned Parenthood who have suggested an "underground railroad" for underage girls getting abortions.
The arguments of the bill's opponents depend on the ignorance of some members of the public.
Opponents said cases would inevitably arise in which a girl was victimized by a relative, where parents were not available or did not have the girl's best interest in mind. In those cases, they said, the legislation would pose a hardship or even graver threat.
“You know, life is not always the way we wish it to be,” said Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., who voted against the bill. “Sometimes tragedies happen, and sometimes families are not just negligent but abusive, and sometimes young girls are taken advantage of by members of their family, people in whom they should be able to trust.”
Except that every state with a parental notification law also has a means for judicial bypass in those very cases. Clinton's complaint is a non-issue.
It's also interesting that Clinton is making this argument with her eye on the White House in 2008. After all, Clinton has been noticable recently in advocating for so-called "common ground" between the pro-choice and pro-life movements. Surely if there is an area where the pro-choicers should be willing to give ground, it's on an issue like this one.
Clinton's vote on this bill shows that her bridge-building talk is just that -- talk.
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A No Brainer... Really. I think opponents aren't thinking correctly. I would oppose this law on interstate commerce concerns and the fact that it is illegal for the Fed and States to pass laws that inhibit the free travel between their borders. All this simply enables is people to say, "Hey I am leaving South Dakota to visit CA because Muir woods is pretty."