While Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-California) seemed to enjoy taking her granddaughters state-to-state for “family photo-ops” this summer, she continues to ignore the plight of other young women who are being taken across state lines for much more sinister reasons. 

Seventy-five percent of all abortions are performed on girls between the ages of 12-25, and because of existing loopholes in current state laws pertaining to interstate abortion, the number of girls transported across state lines for coerced abortions without their parents’ knowledge is unknown.

Still, this fact does little to move the hearts of Speaker Pelosi, Representative Jerrold Nadler (D-New York), who chairs the House Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties subcommittee, and other liberal Members of Congress who have worked to block the passage of the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act, (CIANA) for several years now.  Refusing to even address and respond to requests for hearings on CIANA, Speaker Pelosi and her ilk find that time is better spent on passing groundbreaking resolutions like National Funeral Director and Mortician Recognition Day.

Some Members have tried to make strides in protecting children from coerced abortions.  Representative Trent Franks (R-Arizona), Ranking Member on the subcommittee, sent multiple requests to hold a hearing on CIANA, but after not receiving a single response from majority leadership for the subcommittee, Rep. Franks held a public forum to discuss CIANA.  In past Congresses, CIANA has received overwhelming bipartisan support.  CIANA passed the House of Representatives by large margins in 1998, 1999, 2002, 2005 and 2006.  Pro-life Members are hopeful that it can pass out of the House again.

Lamar Smith (R-Texas), Ranking Member on the House Judiciary Committee, spoke to the inconsistency of parental involvement laws and the need to have a federal law which would give parents greater opportunities to protect their children.  Representative Smith says, “Across the country, officials must obtain parental consent before including children in certain school activities such as field trips and contact sports.  My own state of Texas, along with the large majority of states, requires parental consent before anyone can tattoo or put a body piercing on a minor under 18 years old.  Of course, abortion is a much more serious medical procedure.  And most states — including my own state of Texas — have some form of parental involvement law that requires that at least one parent be given notice, or give consent, before their minor daughter receives an abortion.  Yet today, it remains legal for complete strangers to evade those state parental involvement laws by transporting minors across state lines to obtain secret abortions without the minor’s parents ever knowing about it.”

One of the arguments abortion proponents use against CIANA is that it will hinder women’s “reproductive rights.”  How exactly are parental involvement laws harmful to a “woman’s right to choose” when CIANA and other parental involvement laws pertain to minor females and not adult women?  Another flawed argument claims that it would make criminals of those “kindhearted and compassionate adults,” who seek to “help” female minors deceive and hide information from their parents, obtain abortions.  Anyone who takes a child to Disneyland without the knowledge or consent of the parents could be charged with kidnapping, so why are unauthorized people who take children across state lines for abortions not held to the same standard? 

Abortion advocates also claim that not all parents know what is best for their children and that these children need the input and assistance of other non-parent adults to help them obtain an abortion.  “The Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act affirms that not only do parents have a right to be informed about their minor daughter’s decision to abort her baby, but parental involvement is in the girl’s best interest,” says Wendy Wright, President of Concerned Women for America.  “Knowledge of their daughter’s pregnancy would give parents the opportunity to help her consider the health risks that result from the procedure and alternatives to abortion — like adoption — and would allow intervention in any abusive relationship where she may be a victim.”

Expert witness Teresa Stanton Collett, professor of law at the University of St. Thomas School of Law, pointed out to the forum that CIANA addresses the real problem of minor girls being taken to other states by persons who are not their parents to avoid parental consent laws in order to obtain an abortion.  CIANA would uphold the parental notification requirements that have been established in over 30 states.   The large number of these common sense laws shows they’ve stood the test of time and constitutionality.

In her testimony in support of her bill, Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Florida), reaffirmed the intended purpose and scope of this bill, “Parental consent or parental notification laws may vary from state to state, but they are all made with the same purpose in mind: to protect frightened and confused adolescent girls from harm by allowing them to make proper, safe, and informed decisions.  It will protect minors from exploitation from the abortion industry, promote strong family ties, and will help foster respect for state laws.”  Additionally, the bill would also require abortion providers in states without a parental notification requirement to notify a parent. 

CWA President Wendy Wright notes that, “Abortion clinics place advertisements for their services in neighboring states that have parental notification requirements, indicating ‘no parental notification required.’  This reveals a conscious effort by conniving adults to violate state laws and to interfere with a parent’s ability to protect their daughter.  Minor girls and parents should not have their God-given and state-recognized rights stripped away by devious adults who would whisk a girl out-of-state to end the life of her baby and then dump her back on her doorstep for her parents to take care of the complications.”

CIANA is not only supported by pro-life Members of Congress, but studies also show that close to 80 percent of the public is in favor of parental notification laws.  Closing the loopholes found in existing state laws on parental involvement must be a priority in our country if we are serious about protecting children and doing what is in their best interest.  The minority leadership in the House of Representatives is ready to take a stand on this issue, so we call on the majority leadership to do the same.  Protect our children!