ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, February 12, 1997 TAG: 9702120112
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-13 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: EDYTHE HARRISON
THE ANTI-ABORTION movement recognizes that for the foreseeable future, its members will fail to make abortion illegal in the United States. Instead, their strategy is to reduce safe and legal abortion services through legislation such as the bill recently introduced in the General Assembly that will harass and intimidate those under 18 by preventing access to necessary medical treatment.
The members of this group of already victimized young women lack financial and political power, and have been singled out because of their obvious vulnerability.
Parental-consent or notification bills should be renamed "teen-endangerment bills" - and in many states where such legislation has become law, it is known as a prescription for teen suicide.
The public must not be misled into thinking that this type of legislation is designed to protect young women. It is, in fact, a significant step backward, to the time when young women were forced to seek illegal, dangerous "back alley" abortions that resulted in thousands of deaths, and tens of thousands of women left sterile.
How cruel it is for those supporting parental notification to pretend that such legislation would not have a disastrous effect in dysfunctional families already traumatized by their life circumstances.
Girls whose families suffer from alcohol and drug abuse, emotional disorders, marital difficulties and physical abuse do not present the healthy environment a girl would need in order to discuss and gain permission concerning this personal issue. Most likely, such a youngster runs the risk of being beaten, banished from her home or forced to carry a fetus against her will - and against common sense.
The judicial bypass provision validates the reality that, even though the majority of young girls do indeed go to their parents, an astonishing number simply cannot - for fear of their safety, or fear of disappointing parents whom they feel they could never face again.
The bypass provision could fool the public into believing that it provides a reasonable alternative to having a responsible adult help with this decision. Upon closer examination, we see that the judicial bypass provision is designed to restrict access to abortion, by forcing a girl to go before a stranger, often in another city or county, wait for a hearing and plead her case knowing that her situation could become public. How many adults would feel comfortable doing this?
The proponents of this type of legislation pretend to have a girl's best interests at heart. Yet when they propose legislation that would force many girls in Virginia to carry a fetus against their will, we should ask this question: If the under-18-year-old is too immature to make a decision on abortion, why do we believe she is equipped to nurture, raise and support a child?
Unsafe, illegal abortion or suicide become serious choices for a girl desperate for the right to make her own decision. A victim of rape or incest doesn't deserve death for her tragic predicament; she deserves the confidentiality presently afforded by the Code of Virginia.
We should reject this devastating change in the law, which would deny her the right to reproductive medical treatment without parental or judicial involvement.
We have a choice in how we want to protect our daughters, granddaughters and sisters. Can even those of us who believe our own would come to us really be sure? Are we willing to risk their lives? I think not.
Let us uphold the Virginia tradition of liberty and justice for all. Punitive legislation of this sort will only compound tragedy and add to the injustices of an imperfect world.
Edythe Harrison of Norfolk is a former member of the Virginia House of Delegates.
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