by Rebecca Adele Scarlett

Created on: July 03, 2007   Last Updated: September 10, 2011

Why would there be a law requiring parental consent for an underage girl to get an abortion? Obviously it is to reduce the number of abortions undergone by underage girls. If girls require consent for an abortion, some will not get that consent and not be able to obtain an abortion. Remember that such a law will not reduce underage pregnancies, but only underage abortions.

Why are we seeking to reduce abortions in this age group, rather than focusing on reducing pregnancies? Once an underage girl is pregnant, that pregnancy has a high chance of being dangerous for her. Requiring parental consent to have an abortion is foolish because of the parents who would rather endanger their daughter's health by refusing to give consent than "participate" in an abortion (by giving consent.)

Parents are supposed to do what is best for their child. Having a 13 or 14 year old girl carry a baby to term and give birth to it is not the best thing for her physically, and having a child at that age is not the best thing for her mentally, emotionally, or financially. Forcing her to continue the pregnancy, therefore, is bad parenting and inherently wrong, even if the parents plan to reduce the burden by helping out financially. Child labour is against the law because parents do not own their children's bodies and cannot force them into circumstances where their bodies are being taxed unreasonably, and I have a hard time believing that going through pregnancy and birth would not tax a 13 or 14 year old's body unreasonably. (Yes, women used to give birth at that age all the time, but that was also when giving birth was the leading cause of death among women.)

Why would any parent want to force their child to continue with an unwanted and most likely (due to their age) dangerous pregnancy? Religious reasons are obviously one answer, but I dismiss that as a logical reason. There will be those who vehemently disagree with me, but I have never believed that religion was an appropriate excuse to inflict any kind of stress on another human being.

Another possible reason is these parents believe that by allowing their daughter an abortion they are letting her "off the hook."  There is a widespread sentiment that a girl should be "punished" for having sex, and that having to be responsible for the resulting baby is a fit punishment. Obviously you don't want your daughter to think that her actions don't have consequences,

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