Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky, along with the ACLU, are suing Indiana officials over a new pro-life law signed by Governor Eric Holcomb on April 25. The law will make it more difficult for girls under age 18 to get an abortion without their parents’ knowledge and make it easier for parents to parent their children. Current law says girls must receive consent from one parent, consent from a legal guardian, or permission from a judge to bypass the consent requirement.
The updated law states that a parent must be notified if their daughter is seeking an abortion and goes to a judge for permission, unless notifying the parent is not in the minor girl’s “best interest.” Additionally, the new law requires a parent giving consent to provide legal documentation (like a valid driver’s license) to prove they are the girl’s parent prior to giving consent for an abortion. This section of the law is aimed to prevent human traffickers and sexual abusers from forcing a girl to have an abortion. The law is scheduled to take effect on July 1, 2017.
Planned Parenthood, the abortion giant which performs the majority of the nation’s abortions, said that the law creates “an unconstitutional undue burden on unemancipated minors.”
Planned Parenthood specifically objects to a provision of the law that provides no one can help an unemancipated minor seek an abortion without consent or judicial bypass. Planned Parenthood’s complaint argues that this provision violates its First Amendment rights since Planned Parenthood would not be able to tell minors they can travel to another state in order to avoid Indiana’s parental notification law.
Betty Cockrum, CEO and president of Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky, told The Associated Press that parts of the new law “will have a chilling effect on teenagers already dealing with a difficult situation.”
Often, minor girls find themselves in a difficult situation involving sexual abuse. Yet, even under these circumstances, Planned Parenthood does not act to protect abused minors or involve parents who are unaware of their daughter’s plight. Planned Parenthood has been discovered failing to report rapists while taking their money for abortion. Without parental notification laws, child abusers can bring their victims to Planned Parenthood for abortions without fear of being turned in.
Live Action exposed Planned Parenthood’s willingness to protect child sexual abusers in a series of undercover videos. In addition, the abortion corporation has been sued by parents whose children were brought in for abortions by their sexual abusers.
“I was present when young girls came in with their abusers and Planned Parenthood performed their abortions,” former Planned Parenthood facility worker Catherine Anthony Adair told the National Catholic Register. “When Live Action came out with their videos, I felt vindicated. I knew it to be true, and they showed it to be true. That allowed me, for the first time, to tell others what I had experienced.”
Planned Parenthood’s lawsuit is based on the organization’s distaste for any legal provision that forces them to follow the main tenet of a law they disagree with. Bothering with parental notification laws might cut Planned Parenthood’s bottom line if parents begin stopping their daughters’ abortions.
When children cannot receive Tylenol in school without a parent’s permission, but can have a major procedure such as an abortion without so much as notification, priorities are not in order. Indiana’s law should stand, despite Planned Parenthood’s unreasonable objections.
