Teen Abortion Rates in Parental Consent States

A New York Times analysis of teen abortion rates in states that have enacted laws mandating parental consent for abortions has found that it has virtually no effect on abortion rates among teens. The Times looked at six southern states that have enacted parental consent laws. This is one area where the Supreme Court has allowed restrictions on abortion laws, and one area where most people regardless of their feelings about abortion agree -- that teens should have to get the consent of a parent to have an abortion. But for those who hoped that enacting this law would lead to a drop in abortion, this analysis seems to suggest that it won't make a difference.

I am not surprised by this. The person most aware of the real-world consequences of a 16 year old having a child is not the teenager but the parents:

But some workers and doctors at abortion clinics said that the laws had little connection with the real lives of most teenagers, and that they more often saw parents pressing their daughters to have abortions than trying to stop them. And many teenagers say they never considered hiding their pregnancies or abortion plans from their mothers.

"I would have told my mother anyway," said a 16-year-old named Nicole, who waited recently at a clinic in Allentown, Pa., a state that requires minors to get the permission of just one parent. Nicole's mother and father are divorced, and it was her mother she went to for permission to have an abortion.

My daughter is 19 years old. If she had come to me at 16 and told me she was pregnant, I would have encouraged her to have an abortion. She wouldn't need to come to me today, but if she did I would probably still encourage her to have an abortion. That is simply my not-very-well-thought-out gut instinct about protecting the well-being of my daughter. And I don't think I am any different than most any other parent.