ACLU Loses: Parental Consent For Abortion Ruled Legal
Posted on September 10, 2005
Hat tip to Jo’s Cafe via Las Vegas Sun
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Ohio’s law requiring girls under age 18 to get a parent’s consent for an abortion is constitutional and may be enforced, a federal court ruled Thursday.
The law, signed seven years ago but put on hold by litigation, also requires a woman seeking an abortion to meet with a doctor at least 24 hours before having the procedure to get a description of the procedure, its risks and alternatives.
An exception in the law allows a minor to seek a judge’s permission to bypass the parental consent requirement.
The American Civil Liberties Union sued on behalf of Cincinnati Women’s Services a month before the 1998 law was to take effect. The case was argued this year in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati.
“Plaintiffs’ evidence does not demonstrate that H.B. 421 imposes undue burdens on the abortion right even when viewed in a highly deferential manner,” said the opinion by Judge Sandra Beckwith, though she said the law might prevent some women or girls from getting abortions.
The ACLU has not yet decided if it will appeal, attorney Carrie Davis said.
The only way the ACLU will not appeal is if they can’t find some kind of legal loophole trick. They have always had a hypocrical view of parental rights. They are for them, as long as they allign with their agenda, otherwise they are against them. This is typical of the ACLU, a liberal agenda driven organization.
In the mid-1990s, the ACLU wrote the Senate Majority Leader, at that time Robert Dole with their opposition to Senator Charles Grassley’s Parental Rights and Reproduction Act. They argued it would make it difficult for the government to assist children in situations that endangered their health by the inaction of parents. They were not arguing about life-threatening illness, but were referring to situations where school counselors had transported female minors across state lines to have abortions with out parental involvement. They later opposed the Child Custody Protection Act, which would have made it illegal for school counselors to do such a thing.
The ACLU was decietful in its opposition to the Parental Rights and Reproduction Act. They stated they opposed it because it did not allow for State interference in parental neglect during health concerns. However Section 3 stated that exceptions in the health or mental health decision of the child were allowed. It was completely spelled out as a matter of fact. Section 2, part 3, subparagraph (b) of the bill said medical service or treatment that is necessary to prevent an imminent risk of serious harm or remedy serious harm to the child, or medically indicated service or treatment for a disabled infant with a life-threatening illness.
Their concern was not about parents withholding medical care, but about keeping parents in the dark about abortion decisions, which could have terrible long term effects on the physical and emotional health of their daughters.
In Virginia, the ACLU filed a lawsuit against a state law that made it illegal for teens to attend a nudist camp without parental accompaniment. In this case they argued for parental consent.
Rebeca Glenberg, legal director of the ACLU of Virginia, said, “If there was a law requiring a parent to accompany every child to Boy Scout or Girl Scout camp, you can see what a burden that would be.” Again, the last time we checked, there were no co-ed Scout nudist camps either. But while defending teenage nudist camps, the ACLU has been actively fighting to effectively shut down, or at least defund, Boy Scout troops across the nation.
But Glenberg went on, “By denying children the opportunity to go to this summer camp and by denying parents the right to choose where to send their children during the summer, the state is trampling on their right to privacy and the rights of parents to direct the upbringing of their children.”Excerpt from ACLU Vs. America
So in this case the ACLU argues for parental rights, but when it comes to issues such as parents opting their children out of gay tolerance classes at public schools, protecting their children from pornography, or killing babies, the ACLU argues against parental rights. It all depends on the agenda.
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6 Responses to “ACLU Loses: Parental Consent For Abortion Ruled Legal”
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This will help keep a parent out of jail for not having to shoot a doctor for giving an abortion to their daughter without permission. Maybe a couple of ACLU lawyers also escaped execution.
I think the New Hampshire parental consent law is to be reviewed by the SCOTUS sometime this year. The issue of a health exception will likely come up, and, unfortuantely, I think there’s a good chance the court will say parental consent laws are unconstitutional. So, I think this victory may be shortlived.
Hey eye doc get some glasses. You can not see the forest for the trees. The supreme court will say that parental consent laws are consitutional, what the _ _ _ _ are you thinking about. No judge is going to take my parental rights away from me. I may go to jail but some judge and/or lawyer will get his or her just dues.
This post put me in a good mood…Thank you, Jay!
Nice find on this one. Good news to see at least one Judge has common sense.
Another Today
Today’s dose of NIF - News, Interesting & Funny … It’s Stop the ACLU Thursday