March 8, 2012

The Republican-controlled Judiciary Committee in the House celebrated International Women’s Day by holding a hearing to promote a mean-spirited and constitutionally suspect bill called the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act. It is both an attack on women’s rights and on the basic principles of federalism. Currently, thirty-two states have laws requiring teenagers to consult their parents or get their permission, or else seek a judge’s permission, before obtaining an abortion. The new bill would expand the reach of those restrictions by imposing a mandatory parental notification requirement and 24-hour waiting period on women under 18 who travel outside their home state to get the procedure. Anyone who helps the minor in the absence of judicial authorization without first informing her parent or legal guardian — and that includes grandparents, older siblings, and clergy — would be subject to criminal and civil penalties that include up to a year in prison and a $100,000 fine. Under threat of criminal and civil penalties, doctors also would be forced to comply with a burdensome legal regimen involving the interaction of varying state laws and those of the provider’s home state. A similar measure is pending in the Senate. The bill not only isolates desperate young women, it increases the chances they will resort to unsafe alternatives for termination of their pregnancies or delay the procedure, making it more dangerous. In their zeal to force teenagers to bear children against their will, the measure’s sponsors included no exception to protect a teenager’s health. That is a clear violation of Supreme Court precedent, not to metion fundamental decency. It is also in keeping with the rest of the right-wing agenda on contraception and abortion. While claiming to want to get government off our backs, Republicans are trying to get it firmly jammed between women’s legs.