April 28, 1999

EDITORIAL:
Parental notification should pass
___Abortion has divided America like no other issue of the past quarter-century. Yet a bill that all citizens should be able to support is making yet another attempt at life in the Texas Legislature.
___Senate Bill 30/House Bill 623 would require parental notification and a 48-hour waiting period before an abortion could be performed on a minor girl. The bill has passed the state Senate, but it faces an uncertain future in the House of Representatives.
___The presence of debate on this bill is ironic. It would be ludicrous were the consequences not so tragic.
___We live in a world of parental consent. It is required for our children to play sports, take a field trip to an amusement park, receive the mildest of medication from a school nurse and rent a band instrument. All of these regulations are appropriate. They make common sense.
___Yet a minor girl in Texas can sneak off and receive an abortion without even informing her parents. She can make the biggest decision of her life--and perhaps commit the most significant act in the family's history--without even bothering to tell Mom and Dad.
___Texans like to think of ourselves as progressive. Yet Texas is way, way behind the curve on this. We're one of only 11 states that does not require parental notification for abortion on minors.
___Abortion advocates present several objections, all of which are absurd or significantly remedied:
___ A parental notification bill would be unfair to parents, because the 48-hour cooling off period would require them to take off from work twice, they claim. Even if you concede an abortion is the answer, a couple of afternoons from work is a small price to pay for supporting your daughter through one of the most traumatic times of her life.
___ Parental notification penalizes girls who live in abusive homes, where parental involvement could be physically and emotionally damaging to the girl, they charge. This is true in some cases. But the proposed legislation offers a judicial bypass, which allows a judge to intervene on the girl's behalf without notification of abusive parents.
___ A parental notification bill would push girls to "back-alley" abortions, they declare. To the contrary, abortions still would be available to girls and their parents who insist on them. Moreover, parental notification could save many girls from abortions altogether.
___One of the most severe handicaps of youth is limited perspective. Young people often fail to see all the available options, simply because they haven't had experience to educate them.
___A scared, embarrassed pregnant girl acting alone or on the questionable advice of her boyfriend might see only one option --abortion. Yet with the support and counsel of her parents, she may see a wider horizon. She may see that, although her sexual activity was wrong, God has blessed her with life. She may see that, although she is embarrassed and traumatized, she can give life and share it with a couple who otherwise might not have the blessing of loving and raising a child.
___This bill can help. A parental consent bill would be better, but given the political circumstances of this session, parental notification has the best chance of passage. Gov. Bush has indicated he will sign it into law if it passes.
___Write your representative. The address is Box 2910, Austin 78768; fax (512) 463-5896; e-mail firstname.lastname@house. state.tx.us.
___Baptists also can help this cause by making sure every girl touched by our churches knows she is loved unconditionally. Of course, we stand for moral purity. We believe True Love Waits. But our love must be so strong and shine so brightly that we never allow shame to push a girl toward abortion.
___ --Marv Knox

E-mail the editor at marvknox@flash.net

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