In most states, parental consent is needed to get your ears pierced or to get a tattoo [1].
In some places, parental consent is even needed to go tanning.
However, in some of these same states, it is completely legal for a minor to get an abortion without her parents’ permission.
Regardless of how one feels about the legality of abortion, most agree that whether or not to have an abortion is a big decision for a teenager to have to make – exactly the type of decision in which a parent’s wisdom and guidance could prove useful.
Yet fourteen states currently allow girls under the age of eighteen to make this life-changing decision alone, without permission from their parents [2].
It is also important to point out that some of these cases involves girls involved with older (sometimes much older) men. By not requiring girls to tell their parents, states could very likely be turning a blind eye for statutory rape to occur.
Parental consent or notification laws are in place to support girls in making the best, most well informed decisions for themselves and their babies.
They allow for parents to provide wisdom, guidance and support during difficult times. It also protects young women, making sure that they are not being taken advantage of.
Our society owes far more to these young women than to allow them to be abandoned at the times when they are in most need of help.
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References
[1] Tattoos and Body Piercings for Minors. (2010). National Conference of State Legislatures. http://www.ncsl.org/default.aspx?tabid=14393
[2] Parental Involvement in Minors Abortions. (2011). Guttmacher Institute. http://www.guttmacher.org/statecenter/spibs/spib_PIMA.pdf
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