“I received e-mails saying that Texas law allows parents to abort their grandchildren when we were able to pass the parental notification and then, despite resistance from some of the pro-life activists because “the law allows mothers and doctors to abort babies,” and “it would allow parents to choose to abort their grandchildren,” we were able to pass the prenatal protection act and parental consent laws.”
In short, notification, good, consent, bad. If you keep that in mind, you won’t have any trouble with any pro-life groups.
Regarding pro-lifers who state that they support banning abortion except in cases of rape or incest, not only do I not think that they are being consistent on the issue, I think that they are (without realizing it) punishing the children for the sins of their fathers, something that goes against Judeo-Christian and American values. Still, a candidate who would support an abortion ban in 99% of cases is better than one who would support an abortion ban in no cases.
I agree that no one can ethically consent to elective intentional abortion.
However, after Roe, Doe, and Casey, we had to deal with the reality that any 14 year old girl was able to do so in Texas. Sometimes without her parents knowing, because all the clinic had to do was send a certified letter to the address she gave them. There was no responsibility on the part of anyone to ensure that the address was correct or had received the letter.
Now, someone has to sign an affidavit stating that they are her parent or guardian before the abortion. The doc must document his counseling and the fact that consent is on the chart.
(There is the judicial bypass, but that’s another problem that we can’t overcome until Roe is overturned.)
We believe that the new regulations are cutting the numbers of minor abortion - because parents do not consent or the girls and their boyfriends are more careful because the threat of Mom and Dad having to consent is too much to risk.