THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 22, 1997 TAG: 9702220260
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LORRAINE EATON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 48 lines
This week's passage of a parental notification bill captured banner headlines and top billing on television news. But the group that will be most affected by the law had only one thing to say about it:
Huh?
Despite 18 years of debate in the General Assembly, many local teen-agers had no idea that a parental notification bill even existed. And in school on Friday there was little, if any, talk of its passing.
``Oh, it got passed?'' said Rachael Wagner, a freshman at Cape Henry Collegiate in Virginia Beach. Rachael said that she and her friends wouldn't have any reason for concern, but added, ``I haven't heard any discussion about it at all, not even in my global affairs class.''
Supporters say that the law will result in fewer teen pregnancies because minor girls will know that they will have to tell their parents before getting an abortion. But how will teens learn about the law?
Local public school systems do not cover abortion in abstinence-based Family Life Education classes, where issues of sexuality are taught. School officials were either doubtful that the law would be covered or sure that it would not be.
``It wouldn't affect us because we do not address abortion,'' said Nancy King, head of family life education in Suffolk.
``It seems as if that information (about parental notification) should come from the parents,'' said DeWayne Jeter, Portsmouth's director of family life.
Chesapeake Sen. Mark L. Earley, the Republican who sponsored the bill, said the parental notification law might be ``an appropriate public school topic,'' but only if it is taught in context that parents have responsibility for their children.
``Schools,'' Earley said, ``ought to reinforce the broader principles - that parents should be involved in their children's lives.''
Teen-agers suggested including information about parental notification in school or strong television ads as the best ways to get the word out.
``If it's that important and they've gone through so much to pass it, they can't really rely on newspapers,'' said Amy McCluskey, a senior at Cox High School in Virginia Beach.
And word-of-mouth won't work either, they said.
``I think that teen-agers will be caught by surprise,'' said Rebecca Mann, a junior at Norview High in Norfolk who, incidentally, thought that Virginia already had a parental notification law.
KEYWORDS: ABORTION PARENTAL NOTIFICATION RESPONSE