Parents Role in Abortion of Minors

Parental involvement in the laws that are important for the safety, welfare, and health of minors is extremely important. The USSC has seen that minors seeking abortions are a somewhat unique set of concerns that may require certain additional legal protections that will address concerns without alienating the people that they are trying to help.

One of the issues that comes up in this situation is the access of the medical records of the minor or any other important information regarding their health. The parental involvement statues mean that the parents have the opportunity to supply this kind of information and allow the parents to discuss things with the doctors with regard to post care and pre care of the minor in question. If these were not available to the parents, it would all be left to the minor and their health could potentially be put at risk as a result. To make the bet judgments about health care for the minor, all information should be presented to the clinic. This is the only way to figure out whether or not an abortion would actually be in the best interests of the minor or not. Beyond that, there may be some special needs or accommodations that have to be made for the woman during or after (or maybe even before) the abortion takes place.

The parental involvement in this stage is how the laws help. They make sure that the parents will be able to help in case there is some sort of medical emergency during the abortion. The laws are also needed for informed consent to be obtained from the minor. The USSC made a point that minors do not have the intellectual or emotional maturity to decide on what decision needs to be made in this regard. They simply don’t understand the long term consequences of their own actions in this regard. That could put them at risk of emotional damage.

The laws are also there for parental rights. They have a right to know if their child is having an abortion simply because it is an invasive and dangerous procedure. The right of parents to raise their children the way that they want is fundamental to this discussion. The Court has directly interpreted that the right of parents to raise their children also include the right to counsel their children on things like this, abortion or the possibility of abortion. It is clear that these serve the interest of the state in protecting the rights of parents.