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Abortion under 16 in Alaska now requires parental consent
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by Amy Judd | April 2, 2009 at 01:39 pm
151 views | 30 Recommendations | 2 comments
Any girl under the age of 16 in Alaska who wishes to get an abortion will need her parent's consent, according to a new bill passed through the state House today.
House Bill 35 was introduced that would now require parents to give their approval for an abortion if their daughter is under the age of 16. However, in some cases where sexual abuse or incest are involved, the approval of the parents could be bypassed and the courts could issue the abortion.
"What I've tried to do in this law is balance the right of the parents and address some of those dire circumstances. I think we've provided the least restrictive means," Coghill said during the debate on the House floor Thursday morning.
Opposition to the bill includes arguments about how some parts of Alaska are so rural, they don't have access to the courts.
Gov. Sarah Palin gave her support to the bill on February 26.
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (2)
at 19:05 on April 2nd, 2009
This is a though one.
I do not condone abortion or those that choose to have one, even though I personally am against it as a practice. Only in the Industrialized world of the West a 16 year old is still conceder a child though.
For most of Humanity 16 is adulthood. Even in Canada one is 14 is legally having sex, yet not allowed to smoke or drink in public. In Germany even though a western country the legal age for smoking, drinking and sex is 14 even labour laws do no longer conceder a 14 year old to be a child.
Quebec is discussing to lower the right to vote to 16 and similar debates take place in some European countries.
What am I getting at? Well, We have to make a choice as a society to either baby our kids way be on what should be or help them grow up and be responsible adults making those choices on their own with some mature and sound consulting as well as guidance and the family has to be supportive and that may be where most run into trouble since many families worry more about what the neighbours think then what is good for their kids.
To many adults still fail to be mature and responsible them self.
at 04:10 on April 4th, 2009
That's interesting. And Paschen makes a good point about the age of 16 and how it is, arguably, just a numeric concept.