HOLD THE LINE FOR GIRLS’ RIGHTS!

Today, all Illinois girls and young women under the age of 18 have the legal right to decide to have an abortion without telling a parent or any other adult. That might be about to change.

GBF believes it is bad public policy to coerce girls and young women to talk with an adult, before they can have an abortion.

Girls and young women have good judgment and make good personal decisions.

• Research shows that most young women (61%) talk with one or both parents about unplanned pregnancy. When girls don’t tell a parent, they consult with someone outside the clinic. 90% of girls 14 and younger talk with a parent.*
• When girls don’t talk with a parent, it’s usually because of fear of physical abuse, mistreatment, or being evicted.*
• Illinois has never had a parental notification law. Nothing has changed to suggest that girls suddenly need to be “protected.”

Girls have rights too.

• How can a person be mature enough to decide to have a baby, to raise or to place for adoption, but not be mature enough to decide to have an abortion?
• The right to privacy and confidential reproductive health are fundamental to good care for women AND girls.
• No one should be forced to tell another about a private decision – regardless of age.

Notification laws are dangerous for girls.

• In one study 30% of girls who did not tell a parent about an unplanned pregnancy had experienced violence in their family, were afraid of family violence, or feared being kicked out.*  Public policy that puts girls in danger makes no sense.
• Mandated parental notification results in later abortions, including increases in second trimester abortions.**  Earlier abortions are safer, more available, and less expensive than later ones.
  

* Stanley K. Henshaw & Kathryn Kost, “Parental Notification in Minors’ Abortion Decisions” 24 Family Planning Perspectives 196, 200 (1992)

** http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/tgr/08/4/gr080406.html