Common Sense

Nearly 20% of women who have abortions are teenagers. Thousands of preventable abortions are performed on girls under the age of 18 every year. Why do these abortions happen? They happen because the states where these abortions are performed don’t have parental notification laws — laws that require abortion clinics to notify the parents of a minor teen to know that she is planning to have an abortion. Over half the states currently have parental notification or consent laws in effect. Florida is the latest state to serve as a battleground over these laws. The people of Florida voted last year to pass a parental notification law by nearly a 2-to-1 margin — meaning that the measure was supported even by many people who think abortion should remain legal. These laws are simply a matter of common sense. For one, they reduce the number of abortions among teens, which everyone can agree is a good thing. They also make sense because parents have a right to know when their minor child undergoes a major medical procedure. Fewer babies killed by abortion, and fewer teenage girls spared from the harmful effects of abortion. Who could object to that? Planned Parenthood, that’s who. This isn’t surprising, considering that they’re the leading abortion provider in America. Fewer abortions means that they lose business. Thankfully, a federal judge ruled against Planned Parenthood’s challenge to Florida’s parental notification law last week. This is great news not only for the people of Florida, but for pro-lifers who are working hard to pass parental notification laws in other states as well. It’s these types of small victories that will eventually add up to the overturning of Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton.