catholicsphere

The New York Times reported on today’s passage in the Senate of a bill that would make it illegal for anyone to transport a teenager across state lines in order to avoid parental consent for an abortion.

Critics questioned the necessity of the measure, saying it would apply to only a small number of cases and could result in criminal charges against close relatives or clergy members who interceded to help in a time of personal crisis.

However, opponents of the bill turn right around and seem to use what would seem to be rare cases in an attempt to bolster support for their opposition …

They said the measure could penalize close relatives trying to come to the aid of a child in trouble, who was the victim of incest or feared a physically violent response to the revelation of a pregnancy.

Studies show that only about 0.3% of all pregnancies are the result of rape or incest, and only 1% or all abortions are due to rape or incest. This is significantly lower than the stats about underage girls in states having parental consent laws travelling out-of-state to obtain abortions.
Yet, it looks like the Democrats want to stand in the way of getting this bill into law.

Despite the strong vote for the measure, the Democratic leadership objected Tuesday night to a Republican call to appoint negotiators to begin reconciling the House and Senate bills, showing that Democrats were not going to make it easy to reach a final deal.

Apparently their votes were just for show.

[tags]congress, abortion, bill, child custody protection act, senate, representatives, parental notification[/tags]