My cousin is a midwife/public health practioner who practices in a lot of Latino communities. She saw lots of teenage girls who would face being imprisoned in their own homes until they gave birth or forcibly married, let alone being badly badly beaten if they had to tell their parents. And there are those who don't want to tell parents because one of their parents (usually a stepfather) is the father. I think the law is there to protect the rights of those in the worst circumstances, and those are the children who need it.
But there already laws, at least on the books, to address those situations, which do not remove from law-abiding, loving parents, the right to parent their children. And if those laws are not being effectively enforced, that's what needs addressing, and it needs to be addressed in a way that does not remove rights from the law abiding.
Also? If a minor child is pregnant by a step-father, the law needs to be stepping in to address the molestation and (likely other abuse) in that home.
Most women who are murdered are murdered by lovers/husbands. Should we put all the men on an island, somewhere?
When my children are already 18, but still in high school, they are not allowed to take a Tylenol at the nurses office, without my consent.
FWIW, I definitely remember taking medication at the nurse's office in high school without my parents being notified or consulted. (And I went to high school in MA, and didn't turn 18 until after I graduated.)
I have to wonder how much of this rule is for the school's protection rather than the child's. It sounds more like an "avoid lawsuit" maneuver than anything else.
I'm sure it is. But my kid can't go get a mole removed without my consent.
And not for nothing, but I moved out of my parents' house when I was still a minor, and I don't believe they had any idea what I was doing medically, much less sexually. (NOTE TO MY PARENTS: I HAVE NEVER HAD SEX.)
FWIW, I definitely remember taking medication at the nurse's office in high school without my parents being notified or consulted. (And I went to high school in MA, and didn't turn 18 until after I graduated.)
Ask your mother. Odds are, your school sent a notice home at the beginning of the year with all the "contact in case" cards, etc., and your parents signed their consent at the time.
Fair enough, Cindy. I don't know what kind of release forms she might have signed.
Cindy, I don't think parental notification would be an issue between you and your daughter. In any event, you're not the reason teenage girls might need to get an abortion without talking to their parents.
A co-worker is jonesing for a Jamiacan Beef patty. As HR person, I feel I should do what I can to help the poor dude. Anyone know where one can get good restaurant or frozen ones in LA?
Robin, we've had yum beef patties from these two places so far, and have both eaten them on premises and taken them home frozen.
Ginja Lions, Studio City
[link]
Kingston Cafe, Pasadena [link]
If a minor child is pregnant by a step-father, the law needs to be stepping in to address the molestation and (likely other abuse) in that home.
I can understand that argument.
I keep wanting to get all fuzzy on this. If a 17-year-old high school graduate is pregnant by her same-age boyfriend, I think her right to privacy outweighs the right of her parents to know. But if some 30-year-old teacher has gotten a 12-year-old student pregnant, I would say the opposite.
Too bad we can't have sliding-scale parental consent laws.
Since I'm not a parent, I really ought not weigh in on the parental notification law. But.
I definitely understand Cindy's viewpoint, that knowing her daughter had an abortion would be (in the simplest terms) another piece of knowledge that would help her to be a good parent to her child.
But there are a lot of big and scary things that teenagers go through that they keep secret from their parents, and no law exists that can make them be honest when they damn well don't want to. If your daughter were raped and she didn't go to the hospital or police, and she didn't tell you, there is no way you could know. And that's certainly on a par with having an abortion, emotionally.
Also, I think the parental notification law furthers the notion that children are chattel, who have no agency of their own, no control over what goes on in their lives. It says, basically, "Hey girls -- your bodies aren't your own. You do NOT get to decide what happens to your bodies."
And that disturbs me.
