VALUE YOUR VOTE 2017: Parental Notification for Teen Abortions

The ‘parental notification’ law for teenage abortions currently means that while a parent has to sign a letter for their daughter to go on a school trip to the zoo or to play in the netball team, they are totally excluded from any knowledge or granting of permission for that same child to be put on the pill or have a surgical abortion. What is so unique about abortion procedures which warrants the prohibition of parental consent? Ironically, if there is a complication from the abortion, the parent’s consent is then required for further treatment. Last year, a select committee rejected a petition for a law change (Hillary’s Law) by a Stratford mother whose teenager daughter attempted suicide after a secret abortion organised by the local school. Governments don’t raise children, parents do. If parents don’t know, they can’t care. Yet politicians have voted to keep parents in the dark. Family First is calling for the law to be amended to allow for parental notification in all cases of medical advice, prescriptions and procedures unless it can be proved to a Family Court that it would place the child at extreme risk. Politicians concerned about the welfare of young teenagers in a vulnerable and difficult situation should support family involvement.
READ MORE: www.HillarysLaw.org.nz