Fact v Fiction on Parental Notification

Here's a document Nevada Right to Life put together on Parental Notification when we the legislature was considering a parental notice bill in regards to abortion, Assembly Bill 405 (AB 405).

Fictions v. Fact: Nevada’s AB405 - Parental Notification for Girls Under 18 Seeking Abortions

Nevada’s AB405 is a parental involvement law requiring notification of one parent or guardian prior to a girl under 18 receiving an abortion. It has a judicial bypass and exception for medical emergencies. It acknowledges the majority opinion that parents have the right and responsibility to parent their teenagers in ALL medical decisions. Abortion is an invasive surgical procedure with inherent risks and consequences.

Fiction
This is an anti-abortion bill.

Fact
This is a parental rights bill. No girl wishing to get an abortion will be denied. It merely requires a second set of eyes, whether a parent, guardian or judicial surrogate, to assist a girl in the midst of a crisis pregnancy. Pro-choice advocates see the wisdom in parental involvement. A parent knows their daughter’s medical history and has the resources to choose the best medical care for their daughter. Without the knowledge of a medical procedure, a parent will not be able to to provide necessary and proper pre- and post-operative care and caution.

Fiction
AB405 will cost the state $2million and we do not have the money.

Fact
According to the publicly available fiscal notes, there is no reported fiscal effect that would be produced by enacting A.B. 405 as amended in the Assembly.

Fiction
AB405 is unconstitutional.

Fact
AB405 is based on Minnesota’s parental involvement law that the US Supreme Court declared constitutional over 25 years ago. Over 30 states have similar laws - some much more stringent - and have seen real benefits like reduced teen pregnancy and abortion rates. Tragically, Nevada has some of the worst teen pregnancy and abortion rates in the country. This has proved to be a bipartisan solution in other states. Isn’t it time we try something new?

Fiction
AB405 will expose abused teenagers to further abuse.

Fact
Teens in severely abusive situations need help. Providing them an abortion and returning them to the abusive environment merely allows the abuse to continue undetected. Sexual predators and sex traffickers use abortion to cover their crimes. Who better than a family court judge to intervene in such a case?

Fiction
The judicial bypass in AB405 will take 21-28 days.

Fact
Again, 30 years of parental involvement laws in other states proves otherwise. The judicial bypass in other states is very effiicient and timely and rarely takes longer than a few days. Teens are not forced to stand before a judge and jury. It is merely an administrative action in front of a judge and is a private matter.

Fiction
The state can’t legislate good parenting.

Fact
This bill does not legislate good parenting, it just allows parents to do their job. The implication is that teens in crisis will ALWAYS confide in parents and as such only bad parents have communication problems with their children. As anyone with a teenager knows, this is simply not true.

Fiction
This will limit a woman’s right to choose.

Fact
The notified parent does not have the right to prohibit the physician from performing an abortion. The requirement is only that a parent must be “notified”. There is no other medical decision that an unemancipated minor can make without a parent’s consent, let alone knowledge. Why should abortion be different? An eleven year old girl is not a woman.

NVRTL Press Release on Parental Notification Bill 2015

Nevada Right to Life is running a FB campaign on parental notification.  Here's a press release from NVRTL Executive Direct Melissa Clement back in 2015 when there was a bill in the NV legislature (AB 405) to require parental notification for abortion.  Check out the campaign by clicking here.  Here's the old release.

News Release

Nevada Needs Parental Notification Bill (AB 405)

Requires Abortion Clinics Notify One Parent 48 Hours Before Abortion

For Immediate Release April 16, 2015

The following statement can be attributed to Nevada Right to Life President Melissa Clement.

In Nevada, a girl under age 18 can’t get a cavity filled or an aspirin dispensed by the school nurse without a parent knowing. But a doctor can perform an abortion on a young girl without INFORMING a parent. Abortion is a surgical procedure involving anesthesia and having the potential to cause life-long and sometimes life-ending consequences. 

• Parental notification laws - like AB405 - provide common-sense protection for teen and pre-teen girls.

• It is an undisputed fact that adolescents develop physically before fully maturing psychologically. They simply cannot make decisions that fully consider future consequences AND rarely know their full medical history. In fact, what physician would consider an unemancipated underage girl capable of giving true informed consent?
• A teen’s parent is her biggest advocate and her best protector.
• A teen’s parent has important medical information about the teen – often information the teen doesn’t know or won’t remember during a crisis.
• A majority of Americans support parental involvement. A 2011 Gallup poll found 71% of Americans – including 72% of women and 61% of Democrats – favor PARENTAL CONSENT laws, a higher standard than Nevada is considering.
•  PREDATORS and SEX TRAFFICKERS exploit young girls and use secret abortions to cover up their crimes.
• A majority of states already have parental involvement laws in place. With nearly three decades of real life experience in these states we know these laws have caused real reductions in teen pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases, and a marked decrease in teen abortion.
• Why should parents expect profit-making abortion clinics to have their daughter’s best interest at heart?
• Why does this procedure enjoy an exemption from common-place informed consent standards?
• A middle school or high school girl can’t get an over the counter medication like tylenol or benadryl at school without parental PERMISSION, yet she can get a surgical abortion without a parent KNOWING about it.
• How can a parent provide proper and necessary pre- and post-abortion medical care, if they are completely unaware of the procedure? They are not even able to choose the doctor who would provide the best care.
• In the rare case of possible parental abuse, AB405 provides for a judicial bypass and provides an exemption for medical emergencies.

AB 405 passed out of the Assembly Judiciary Committee last Friday on a party line vote.  Assembly Judiciary Chairman Ira Hansen and the Republican Assembly Caucus saved it from certain death in the Health and Human Services Committee.  The bill must be voted on by Tuesday April 21, 2015.

AB 405 is necessary to protect Nevada girls seeking an abortion.  Abortion is an invasive surgical procedure with lifelong physical, emotional/psychological and spiritual consequences.  No other surgical or medical procedure grants children the ability to provide informed consent without a parent being notified. In Nevada, boys are guaranteed parental involvement in all medical decisions. Why not girls?  

In Nevada a minor cannot get a tattoo without parental CONSENT. A minor cannot use a tanning booth, with or without parental consent.  Minors cannot miss school or go to R rated movies without parental involvement.  While Nevada law rightly requires these common sense requirements to protect a child’s health and wellbeing, it is appalling that Nevada law does not require parental notification before their teen and preteen daughters can have an abortion.  Parents should be involved in ALL medical decisions.

AB 405 insures parents the right to counsel with their underage daughter before she decides to have an abortion.  It does not allow them to stop an abortion. A parent has the responsibility to ensure the best possible care for their daughter. Before the abortion, it includes helping her choose the best doctor, not the corner chop shop. After the abortion, ensuring she receives any post operative care and follow-up. Considering the nature of the abortion procedure and the consequences, parents need to know.  They have a fundamental right to know.  The child needs the parents to know.  

Predators and sex traffickers use abortion clinics to cover up and continue their sexual crimes against teen and preteen girls.  

Parents are also needed because abortion clinics can’t be trusted to look out for their child’s interests.  So called counselors are more likely to be a salesperson who stands to benefit from selling her an abortion, not someone qualified and competent to counsel her.  Too many abortion clinic workers are unqualified to be working in a medical facility.  And too many times the abortionist is really the bottom of the barrel doctor.  Abortion doctors like Kermit Gosnell who ran a filthy clinic at which he maimed and killed women are too common in our country.  Only a police investigation stopped Gosnell, not the abortion industry which knew all about him and which would even refer clients to him.  The abortion industry cannot be trusted to protect teen and preteen girls nor to look out for their best interests.  

Much has been said that laws like this can’t legislate parent child relationships, however the law should be neutral. Currently, parents are CUT OUT of this important decision during what is most-likely the greatest crisis their daughter has ever faced. Should this 12 or 13 or even 17 year old bear the burden herself? Much has also been made that good teens with good parents always tell their parents everything. Teens do not want to disappoint their parents - whether it is a bad grade, failing to take birth control consistently, or pregnancy - teens will search for the easy way out. We all did. They all do. 

Society rightly holds parents responsible for their children’s well-being, especially their health care.  No one has the best interests of the child at heart like her parents.  Parents cannot fully exercise their responsibility to care for their child’s welfare if they don’t know.  Opposing this law deprives parents of their authority to be responsible.  It abandons girls to those who stand to gain from her abortion.  To withhold information from them is offensive and says that says that parents are not competent to protect their children and cannot be trusted when it comes to their girls’ pregnancies and abortion. Abortion politics should not get in the way of protecting pregnant teen and preteen girls.  They are not expendable for political purposes. 

It’s time to pass AB 405.  It is long overdue.

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Nevada Right to Life is the state affiliate of the National Right to Life Committee, the federation of 50 state right-to-life affiliates and more than 3,000 local chapters, the nation’s oldest and largest grassroots pro-life organization.

We Need Parenthood Notification In NV. My 2015 Testimony

Nevada Right to Life has a Facebook post on sex trafficking and the lack of a parental notification law the would force Nevada abortion providers to let a parent know that their child is seeking an abortion.  I hope you'll join in.  

This led me to look back at my testimony that I submitted to a Legislative committee on a parental notification bill in 2015, AB 205.  I submitted it because there was not enough time for me to present it.  We had too many speakers that day.  80 percent of Americans supported that legislation which undermines Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry's claim that we are the extremists.  80 percent support means that substantial numbers, if not a majority, of people who call themselves pro-life on abortion support a parent's right to know.  Here's what I wrote in 2015.  More to come.

Testimony of Don Nelson

President, Nevada LIFE

Assembly Judiciary Committee

Regarding AB 405

April 10, 2015

Mr. Chairman, members of the Committee, my name is Don Nelson.  I am from Sparks, Nevada and President of Nevada LIFE.  I am representing Nevada LIFE (Life Issues Forum and Education).  Nevada LIFE supports this bill. 

Abortion is an invasive surgical procedure with lifelong physical and emotional consequences.  Those consequences are more profound for teen and preteen girls.  Being pregnant as a teen or preteen girl is one of the most difficult and life-changing situations a teen or preteen girl will ever face.  When young girls cannot get an aspirin without parental consent, cannot get a tattoo, cannot go to an R-rated movie without parental consent, I am shocked that parental notification is not required for her to receive an abortion in Nevada.  This abandons teen and preteen girls to the politics of abortion and all the people who stand to benefit from her abortion without the protection of her parents.

Who are those people who stand to benefit?  She is a cash cow to the abortion clinic.  And if the father of her child is another teenager, the parents of the boy are likely to think it is in their son’s interest that the abortion happen to evade years of child support and the weight they think it will be on his future.  Then there is the sexual predator.  Sexual predators routinely use abortion clinics to cover up and continue their sexual crimes against teen and preteen girls because they know that abortion clinics almost never report their suspicions of statutory rape.  There have been plenty of exposes to substantiate the charge that abortion clinics do not report and do not want to know and will do the abortion in these circumstances anyway.

The long-term impact on teen and preteen girls from sex with adult men is staggering.  These girls are more likely to drop out of school, engage in dangerous sexual behaviors, become pregnant, run away from home, be lured into prostitution, abuse drugs or alcohol, end up on welfare, be estranged from friends and family, be in physically abusive relationships, become divorced, more likely to attempt suicide and more likely to have STIs.  This bill would be a powerful protection for families and children against statutory rapists-the sexual predators. 

She also needs her parents because when a teen and preteen girl goes for an abortion she’s likely to meet a salesperson who stands to benefit from selling her an abortion, not someone qualified and competent to counsel her.  Too many times she’s going to meet people who are unqualified to be working in a medical facility.  And too many times the abortionist is really the bottom of the barrel doctor.  Abortion doctors like Kermit Gosnell who ran a clinic that was too filthy to be a dog pound at which he maimed and killed women are too common in our country.  It was a police investigation that stopped Gosnell, not the abortion industry which knew all about him and which would even refer clients to him fully aware of his pathetic clinic conditions.  This is just one of many stories to show that neither society nor the young girl seeking an abortion can trust the abortion industry to protect her from rogue doctors and incompetent, unqualified people.  Nor can they trust the abortion industry to look out for her best interests. 

These are just a few reasons why it is absolutely necessary that we pass this bill now.  Society rightly holds parents responsible for their children’s well-being, especially their health care.  No one has the best interests of the child at heart like her parents.  Parents cannot fully exercise their responsibility to care for their child’s welfare if they don’t know.  Opposing this law deprives parents of their authority to be responsible.  It abandons girls to those who do not care and who will gain from her abortion.  Abortion politics should not get in the way of protecting teens.  They are not expendable for political purposes.

Please pass AB 405.  It is long overdue.