The Senate will vote today on the "Child Custody Protection Act," which would make it a federal crime (punishable with a $100,000 fine, one year in jail or both) to transport a minor across state lines for an abortion. It requires abortion providers to contact a minor's parent or guardian if she lives in a state with a parental consent or notification law. The legislation would also allow parents to sue if they "suffer harm" when their daughters cross state lines to get an abortion.
A similar bill, the "Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act," was passed by the House back in April.
In Planned Parenthood v. Casey the Supreme Court said it was A-OK (sigh) for individual states to restrict minors' abortion access. But this federal legislation isn't just taking another small chip out of abortion rights. It would force largely pro-choice states (like California, which recently rejected a parental notification ballot initiative) to abide by the restrictive laws passed by states with anti-choice legislatures. So much for letting individual states decide how to restrict abortion. Now we'll all be bound by the laws of our more conservative neighbors.
According to the Guttmacher Institute, 22 states have parental consent laws that require written permission from a parent before a minor can receive an abortion (Mississippi and North Dakota require consent from both parents), and 12 states require parental notification. Only 12 states make exceptions in cases of abuse or incest. Most states have a judicial bypass procedure, but I always wonder what sort of real option that is. If I'm a pregnant 16-year-old who's scared to tell my parents, how on earth will I be able to navigate the court system and tell a judge that I need an abortion?
This legislation certainly won't reduce the number of abortions-- if lawmakers wanted to do that they'd fund medically accurate sex-ed and increase contraception access. Instead the law is designed to punish teenagers who need abortions and the people who are there to help them in a time of crisis.
Click here to ask your Senator to oppose the bill.
And if you're interested, Legal Affairs recently published a thought-provoking debate on parental consent laws.
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Is the Child Custody Protection Act even constitutional? Does anyone know? Laurence Tribe says that the law "violates the rights of states to enact and enforce their own laws governing conduct within their territorial boundaries, and the rights of the residents of each of the United States and of the District of Columbia to travel to and from any state of the Union for lawful purposes, a right strongly affirmed by the Supreme Court . . ." I guess the odds of the current Supreme Court caring what Laurence Tribe has to say is rather slim, but maybe he can make the case.
And this will place a very large burden on all abortion providers everywhere. Say you're a provider in liberal Vermont, which doesn't have parental-notification laws, and a pregnant minor comes into your clinic. She might be from Vermont, in which case everything's fine. But she could be from Massachusetts, which does have notification laws. And that could mean a lawsuit. You never know. So providers in Vermont will have to spend considerable time checking and verifying every single minor who comes in to the clinic -- not to mention learning the ins and outs of abortion law in 49 other states. Just to be safe.
And how is this going to be enforced? Federal agents camped out on every border watching for pregnant minors? Maybe we can set up roadblocks and checkpoints between states -- we've already scrapped the Fourth Amendment, this seems like a logical next step.
i've been thinking about this over the last couple days, and i'm becoming more worried about it. as brad asked, how can this be legal? if it's the lack of parental notice that's the "bad" thing, why is it the between-state travel that's being outlawed? couldn't any non-related person who took a girl to another state without her parents' knowledge just be charged with kidnapping anyway? and what prevents them from passing a bill that prevents any woman from crossing state lines to get an abortion? why couldn't wisconsin decide not to sell me alcohol after 9pm, when i bought my beer there (alcohol can be purchased until 10pm in wis) with my minnesota i.d.? please, someone explain to me why the child custody protection act makes sense logically, within the existing legal framework.
I believe it passed.
nothing like watching rights in a republic fall away.
OK, I'm feeling really atupid. I know what the CCPA is. What is the "Grandmother Incarceration Act" you are referring to? Is it the "the people who are there to help them in a time of crisis"?
"So much for letting individual states decide how to restrict abortion. Now we'll all be bound by the laws of our more conservative neighbors."
Did the government suddenly forget about State's rights?