Abortion for children: Should parents be informed?

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 09 Nov 2005, 17:49

As someone who hopes to become a parent one day... the answer is yes. The thought of my 14 year old daughter having an abortion without my knowledge makes me sick with fear. That a decision as important as that can be left up to a child whilst at the same time a school can't hand out penicilin without a consent form signature baffles me no end. Technically it's breaking the law to have full intercourse under the age of 16 so why is it considered OK to cover up the fact in order to abort a human life?

Mordib · Post by **Mordib** » 09 Nov 2005, 18:34

i am against the parents being informed as it achieves nothing other than force the opinions of the parents onto the child. to tell a girl that she cannot have an abortion seems bizarre to me.

of course there are the issues of providing moral support to theat child, and education to reduce the chances of it happening again but creating the possibility of destryoing the childs family support system doesnt really help that

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 09 Nov 2005, 19:37

It depends how old the child is.

If she's under 14 or isn't mentally capable of making such a decision then yes (such as she's mentally ill) BUT if she's 14 or over and is able to make a decision then it should be the child's choice.

I see your point Mark but it would worry me far more if parents decided it's wrong to abort and the child through peer pressure was left being forced to have the baby.

why is it considered OK to cover up the fact in order to abort a human life?

It's not considered okay far from it but these things happen so they need to be dealt with.

No one is covering up the fact, even 14 year olds have rights. This I believe is their point.

nenmaster · Post by **nenmaster** » 10 Nov 2005, 01:17

yea the parents should be told, dumb ass couldnt make the decisionto protect her self she shouldnt have it to kill the baby

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 10 Nov 2005, 06:09

No, parents should not be told.

No matter how old she is, it's her life. We can't possibly trust the parents to make the right decision about the baby's future.

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 10 Nov 2005, 17:34

Interesting viewpoints... so I take it then you would be in favour of the age of consent for sexual intercourse being lowered to 14 then? If a 14 year old is mature enough to make a decision which will affect the rest of her life (and none of us males here can know the psychological damage a termination can do, not least in later life when guilt sets in) then surely she's old enough to play hide the salami?

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 10 Nov 2005, 17:47

It's a very difficult subject, cause what's right in one case, might not be the right thing to do in another...
Some 14 year olds ARE mature enough to have sex, and make good decisions on their own, while others clearly aren't. Same thing goes with the parents. Some parents would support their pregnant kid, and other parents could smack her head in. So there really is no good/bad answer.

The doctors should inform with the girl how the relationship with her parents is, have a good talk with the girl, not just about the abortion, but also about the situation at home, and how the girl got pregnant (love? steady relationship? Incest? forced?) and where the boy/guy is at the moment.
Then they should just give advice to the girl, and maybe advice her to rethink, or consult her parents and maybe offer her help with dealing with the parents, if she's scared to do so on her own, etc etc.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 10 Nov 2005, 19:59

nenmaster wrote:yea the parents should be told, dumb ass couldnt make the decisionto protect her self she shouldnt have it to kill the baby

That's incredibly simplistic. Life isn't that simple.

We all did stupid things before we were mature enough to know better, hell we do stupid things now we are mature enough to know better.

Markgway wrote:Interesting viewpoints... so I take it then you would be in favour of the age of consent for sexual intercourse being lowered to 14 then? If a 14 year old is mature enough to make a decision which will affect the rest of her life (and none of us males here can know the psychological damage a termination can do, not least in later life when guilt sets in) then surely she's old enough to play hide the salami?

A good point there Mark.

I guess originally the doctor shouldn't tell the parents but maybe said doctor should be able to consult with peers for advice. Which I guess they are allowed to do already.

I really don't know you've got me on this one.

p.s - I do strongly think the age of male homosexuals should be lowered to 16 which is what it is for female homosexuals and heterosexuals already. Men it is 18 for some absurd reason.

I guess because boys mature later is the thinking, as if being gay is a fad which you might mature out of.

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 10 Nov 2005, 20:28

Stupid slappers need real parental guiding if they are young and stupid enuff to get pregnant

or taken and slapped hard for being thick as pigshit in the 1st place.

nenmaster · Post by **nenmaster** » 10 Nov 2005, 23:50

im against abortion for stupid reasons, medical and incest yes, but the whore couldnt use protection and wants to kill it, nope have it then adopt it if you dont want to bring it up.

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 11 Nov 2005, 00:18

Lest anyone think I'm a rampant right-wing puritan, I actually agree that the age of homosexual consent should be equal to that of heterosexual consent, whether it be 16, less or greater.

nenmaster · Post by **nenmaster** » 11 Nov 2005, 00:35

people gonna do it no matter the age, still dont understand how drinkin is above age of consent. o well

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 11 Nov 2005, 08:29

I still can't really believe that in the USA you can't drink strong alcohol befroe you are 21, yet the army is recruiting 16-17 year olds to go and hold a huge machine gun and kill people overseas. Kinda a double standard.

I know it's offtopic, but yeah, alot of these age rules and regulations and laws don't make much sense ...

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 11 Nov 2005, 14:22

Yi-Long wrote:I still can't really believe that in the USA you can't drink strong alcohol befroe you are 21, yet the army is recruiting 16-17 year olds to go and hold a huge machine gun and kill people overseas. Kinda a double standard.

Insane isn't it?

Personally I'd much rather my son was porking at 16 than killing someone.

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 11 Nov 2005, 14:35

Markgway wrote:
Yi-Long wrote:I still can't really believe that in the USA you can't drink strong alcohol befroe you are 21, yet the army is recruiting 16-17 year olds to go and hold a huge machine gun and kill people overseas. Kinda a double standard.
Insane isn't it?

Personally I'd much rather my son was porking at 16 than killing someone.

Exactly ...
If you, as a goverment, say that anyone under a certain kind of age is to irresponsible to deal with smoking and drinking etc... then why give such an unstable person a gun!?

I always thought you had to be pretty stupid to choose to be in the army anyway, so it's not really a comforting thought...
Letting people yell at ya, plus having to do shit you dont want to do, or are morally wrong, or have no purpose whatsoever,etc etc.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 11 Nov 2005, 14:44

Reminds me of a Simpsons joke:

Tonight on Eye on Springfield, young people are trained to kill for their country. The Government calls it The ARMY. But a better, more alarmist name would be THE KILLBOT FACTORY.

I agree, how can you be able to die for your country at 16 yet not be able to buy a beer? Crazy.
Having said that, the law says you can actually drink alcohol (in your own home) when you are 5 years old, at least it used to recently.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 11 Nov 2005, 16:08

Yi-Long wrote:I still can't really believe that in the USA you can't drink strong alcohol befroe you are 21, yet the army is recruiting 16-17 year olds to go and hold a huge machine gun and kill people overseas. Kinda a double standard.

Yep very true.

The point here is America from day 1 has been obessed with defending itself to the point where common sense goes out of the window.

Bowling for Columbine IMO showed this point very well.