A 13-year-old girl recently died at a Chicago abortion clinic from complications after receiving an abortion. How would any of us as parents like to be informed that a daughter had just died after having such a medical procedure? A procedure that we as parents had no right to know about ahead of time. How does a teenager get to an abortion clinic in the first place; is it through a friend, a school nurse, a county health worker, a doctor’s referral or does a parent take them? Our current law does not require any parental consent for a teenager (or younger) to have an abortion. Where are a parent’s rights when a teenager can make such a life changing or life threatening decision as this, without their knowledge. If in doubt, call up an abortion clinic and ask if a teenage girl needs her parent’s permission to have an abortion. Is a 13 or even a 16-year-old mature enough to make a decision like this on their own? If a child was to receive any other sort of operation wouldn’t a parent know of it and most likely be present for it? With all this talk of a woman’s right to choose, do we picture a mature adult woman or at least an older teen making this decision? Should teens be making this decision (without a parent’s guidance) that they will have to live with for the rest of their lives?

Roe v. Wade may have legalized abortion in this country, but by doing so has it eliminated much of the moral decision making for us on an unborn child’s right to life? If it takes the delegalization of abortion to help end the tide of abortions being performed, then I believe this is the best solution currently available. Many people believe that the government should stay out of this decision, perhaps government should have stayed out of it and never made abortion legal in the first place. Let’s not let the cry of “a woman’s right to choose” make us overlook what is really going on.

Sharon Challand