The abortion industry is Michigan is looking to undo another pro-life law meant to keep minors safe: the state’s parental consent law.
Currently, Michigan minors who are seeking an abortion must receive the consent of a parent or a legal guardian. In some instances, the minor can petition the court for a waiver, in what is known as a judicial bypass. Now, the abortion industry says this law must be repealed in order to expand abortion access.
A coalition of pro-abortion organizations including the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan (ACLU of Michigan), Human Rights Watch, and the Michigan Organization on Adolescent Sexual Health (MOASH), recently released a report detailing what they claim are the “harms” of the state’s parental consent law, which they say “undermines the safety, health, and dignity of young people seeking abortion.”
“This law is actually of no benefit to the vast majority of young people who do involve their parent in the decision. And for the small number who can’t, it can be deeply, deeply harmful,” said Jo Becker, advocacy director for the children’s rights division at Human Rights Watch.
READ: Abortion on minors should require parental consent, new poll shows
Parental consent laws are in place to ensure that minors are being protected — not harmed. They are designed to help protect minors from coercion and from potentially abusive situations. There have been numerous cases in which abortion businesses have shown willingness to aid sex traffickers or sex abusers in getting abortions for their victims. Without parental consent laws in place, the young victim is returned to her abuser without her parent ever knowing that she killed her preborn child.
Right to Life of Michigan Legislative Director Genevieve Marnon defended parental consent laws as a common-sense way to ensure children are safe. “The organizations who published this advocacy piece and their political allies believe they know what is best for children, not parents,” she told the Detroit Free Press. “They are actively seeking to remove parents from one of the most important decisions a minor girl could face, one that everyone acknowledges will have a lifelong impact regardless of the decision.”
