By 2008, 36 states had adopted regulations necessitating minors to notify or acquire consent from one or both parents before performing an abortion (Ballaro and Wagner). However, the issue of whether all states should require minors to obtain the consent of their parents before performing abortion attracts a heated controversy. Nonetheless, the peculiar vulnerability of minors, the importance of parents in child-rearing, combined with the presumed inability of minors to make essential decisions in a mature and informed manner are enough reasons to warrant parental consent in abortions when a child is a minor.
To start with, minors are a vulnerable group. In fact, the law treats minors differently in many cases due to their vulnerability when they interact with adults. For instance, fraud and over-reaching acts by adult individuals could go unnoticed by the minors, and hence need protection from the effects of the choices they make. In her article, Seymore argues that minors are more suggestible as compared to adults, and therefore lack the ability to resist high-pressure (p. 124). Considering the impact of peer pressure among minors, it is evident that when parental consent is lacking, then the minors might resort to the views and advises of peers, which would be equally wrong.
In addition, during the early years of growth – adolescence and childhood, minors usually do not have the perspective, experience, and innate judgment to comprehend and avoid decisions that could be harmful to them (Seymore 125). In this light, minors can be viewed as impaired adults who are unable to understand and perceive until they fully transform into adulthood. In many instances, minors do not plan their pregnancies and become shocked when they finally realize that they are pregnant, largely considering the resultant situation as a crisis (De Miranda 1). Therefore, pregnant minors need guidance by adults when dealing with such crisis pregnancies, and parental consent before performing abortion remains the best option.
Besides, parental notification laws improve communication within the family and enhance the best interests and health of minors (Ballaro and Wagner). By understanding that their teenage daughters are unprepared to handle the psychological and physical effects that come with abortion, parents would help their children to take the best choice, whether adoption, parenting, or abortion and assist the minors in navigating the overly complex healthcare system to identify the best providers (De Miranda 3). In fact, the responsibility of parents to oversee the health of their children outweighs the right of minors to privacy.
Overall, considering the immaturity of the adolescent brain and the vulnerability of young people to adult abuse, the fact that minors require the involvement and advice of their parents in decisions regarding pregnancy is evident. When minors involve their parents in decisions regarding abortion, they are most likely to benefit from adult support, wisdom, and experience. Therefore, it would be advisable for all states to pass legislations warranting parental consent for abortions when a child is a minor.
Works Cited
Ballaro, Beverly and Geraldine Wagner. “Abortion and Minors Debate.” Salem Press Encyclopedia, 2013. EBSCOhost, lopes.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true"db=ers"AN=89158037"site=eds-live"scope=site.
De Miranda, Federico C. “Parental Involvement and Consent for a Minor’s Abortion.” American College of Pediatricians, May 2016, acpeds.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/5.16.16-Parental-Involvement-and-Consent...pdf. Accessed 18 Nov. 2018.
Seymore, Malinda L. "Sixteen and Pregnant: Minors' Consent in Abortion and Adoption." Yale Journal of Law and Feminism, vol. 25, no. 1, 2013, pp. 99-158.
Personal Responsibility
1. What are the consequences of choosing to plagiarize? A major consequence of choosing to plagiarize is receiving no grade for the class, making the student’s performance in the course to drop significantly. In the worst cases, the student could be expelled from college.
2. How do one’s personal values influence the decision to plagiarize/not plagiarize? One’s personal tenets and values influence the decisions to plagiarize, especially if he/she does not have integrity. However, with integrity, it would be assumed that students cannot plagiarize since they have strong guiding principles.
3. How did you avoid plagiarism in your essay? In writing this essay, I avoided plagiarism by conducting detailed research using EBSCOhost and the Internet, which largely inspired my thoughts, making me write some parts of the essay without confirming from another source. Besides, I ensured that all sources from which I obtained information were properly cited and the authors received credit for their work. This was in addition to paraphrasing information obtained from secondary sources.
