New Alabama Law Puts Teens Who Need Abortions on Trial. That's Dangerous and Cruel.
Published on Friday, October 03, 2014
by Blog of Rights / ACLU
New Alabama Law Puts Teens Who Need Abortions on Trial. That's Dangerous and Cruel.
by Jennifer Dalven
Picture this: You are 17 years old, in your senior year of high school, and you've just learned you're pregnant. You'd like to be able to turn to your parents for support but you know you can't. After all, they kicked your older sister out of the house when she got pregnant. But you have discussed your options with your aunt and a trusted counselor and decided to have an abortion.
You call a women's health center to make an appointment and are told that unless you get your parent's consent, you will have to go to court and essentially be put on trial in order to get the care you need.
That's right. Instead of a doctor, you get a trial.
Thanks to a new Alabama law, a teen who can't get a parent's consent has to undergo a gauntlet of questioning to get the abortion she needs. Because of this law, a prosecutor and a representative for the fetus, both of whom are charged with protecting the "state's interest in fetal life," (a.k.a. making sure the teen doesn't get an abortion), will cross-examine her.
That isn't even the half of it. In their quest to ensure that the teen can't get an abortion, the new law allows the prosecutor and fetus's representative to tell other people in the young woman's life -- including her teachers, pastor, employer, relatives, and friends – that she is pregnant. And to haul them in to court to testify against her.
More:
http://www.commondreams.org/views/2014/10/03/new-alabama-law-puts-teens-who-need-abortions-trial-thats-dangerous-and-cruel
= new reply since forum marked as read
proper education and means for contraception?
