Vermont Senators obstruct common-sense parental notification laws
By Mary Beerworth

A school nurse cannot dispense a Tylenol to a minor without parental consent, yet Planned Parenthood can perform a surgical or chemical abortion on a minor girl without even notifying her parents. If you are shaking your head in disbelief, you are not alone.

The vast majority of Vermont parents find that fact incomprehensible and over 70% of Vermonters support enacting a law to change the situation. Sounds simple. So why is it that the Vermont legislature has failed to pass a law to require abortion clinics to notify a parent before performing an abortion on a minor girl? After all, nearly every state in the union has addressed the issue and over 26 states have enacted effective parental involvement laws. The answers to that question will have you shaking your head again.

Parental notification legislation has been introduced in every legislative session in Vermont for over 20 years only to run into blockades erected by lawmakers who call themselves "pro-choice." Under the direction of Speaker of the House Ralph Wright, no legislator of either party was allowed to sit on the House Health and Welfare Committee without first vowing to support abortion and, very specifically, vowing to oppose parental notification. Year after year the committee makeup was 11 – 0 in opposition to such a law. You could say that Speaker Wright, Madeline Kunin, Howard Dean and other abortion proponents were not taking any chances.

Now fast forward to 2000 and the Republican takeover of the Vermont House. Speaker Walter Freed placed the House Human Services Committee in the hands of Barre Town Representative Tom Koch. Rep. Koch, along with Pittsford Rep Peg Flory, Chair of House Judiciary, opened the committees up for testimony on parental notification for the first time in Vermont history.

Here is some of what they heard:

(Springfield Mother, Testimony before VT House Health and Welfare, March, 2001)

"I called the high school one day to leave a message for my 16 year-old daughter. She wasn’t there! She was at Planned Parenthood. She had an abortion and I wasn’t even notified. Planned Parenthood knew, her boyfriend knew – the only one who didn’t know was me, her own mom. I was shocked that she was actually encouraged not to discuss her pregnancy with me. She had driven 50 miles with her fifteen year-old boyfriend to the clinic where he was allowed to sit in my place. He is long gone out of her life and I am still here for her." 

("Sue", an anonymous Vermont mother,Testimony before House Health and Welfare & House Judiciary Committees, March, 2001/April 2001)

"My daughter was just 16 years old when, under pressure from her boyfriend, she had an abortion. I wasn’t even notified. During the night, Katie started bleeding heavily with terrific pain. Katie knew that if she went to the hospital then we would find out about the abortion and she was too ashamed to let that happen. She was very fortunate to survive that night. When she returned to Planned Parenthood she told them that her boyfriend had broken up with her and that she was alone and needed help. They wrote in her file that she seemed depressed and needed counseling. They handed Katie a card for counseling and told her it would be $50.00 an hour. She told them she used all of her money for the abortion. That was the last Katie heard from Planned Parenthood. For the next several months, I watched my daughter continue on a downward spiral. I knew that her spirit to live was gone. I tried never to leave her alone…….. (finally) she revealed her story. I immediately found appropriate counseling for my daughter. Planned Parenthood was the only one aware of my daughter’s medical needs. They did not live up to the responsibility of caring for my daughter. We need to notify parents so they will ensure good medical treatment……… I’ll never forget that the one day my daughter needed me most I wasn’t there, because I didn’t know."

Parents need to know, need to help, need to inform, need to support. Minors, despite their desire to be independent, still need their parents’ guidance and support. Parental notification will help Vermont families protect familial bonds as well as the health and welfare of minor children.

(Annisa Lamberton, Vermont Mother and Educator, House Health & Welfare Committee, March 2001)

"I needed my parents before, during, and after the abortion. I had other adult support, but not the parental support necessary to address all my areas of need. Yes, I needed my parents to help me make the decision of whether or not to abort my child. Yes, I needed my mother’s hand to hold during and after the traumatic experience of the abortion. Yes, I needed my parents to help me with the physical and emotional aftercare that I never received. Parental notification will allow parents to meet their minor child’s physical, emotional, and behavioral issues."

What could be more heartbreaking than a teenager under pressure from her boyfriend to have an abortion; him pressuring her to keep it secret from her parents? 

This. This is worse. If an adult sexual predator is pressuring her to abort in order to cover up his crime. Remember, the DNA proof of the crime disappears down the garbage disposal if the pregnancy is aborted. 

And then again, what if she is just plain too afraid to disappoint her parents and an abortion seems like the only way out? 

Imagine your young daughter attempting to handle, by herself, the enormousness of a secret abortion. Will anyone offer her real help with alternatives to abortion? Will anyone have her best interest at heart? Will she adequately recall her medical history? Will she select an appropriate and trained abortion provider? Will she know to ask if the doctor has admitting privileges at a hospital no more than 20 minutes away, as the National Abortion Federation recommends? Will she know that a fever can indicate a life-threatening infection? Will she remember to take her antibiotics on time? Will she be able to determine how much bleeding after the surgery is too much, and when immediate attention is needed? Is she mature enough to know that her parents love her, support her, and really won’t "kill her" if she comes to them with her situation?

On May 11^th, 2001, An Act to Require Parental Notification Prior To Performing An Abortion On An Unemancipated Minor (H. 218), reached the House floor and was passed with bi-partisan pro-life and pro-choice support, by a roll call vote of 78 – 55. 

The Bill was then sent over to the Senate where "pro-choice" Democrat leadership publicly vowed to take no testimony, hold no public forums, and engage in no discussion of the legislation. Similar bills died in committees of both the House and Senate in each successive year.

Why the refusal to listen? Why the fear of discussion? What special interests are in play?

The powerful and well-funded Planned Parenthood of Northern New England is the most vocal opponent of parental notification and, not coincidentally, they are the largest provider of abortions in Vermont. Not a single one of their 15 clinics in the state offers prenatal care, but PPNNE is responsible for over 85% of the chemical and surgical abortions that are administered annually in Vermont. PPNNE receives over $7 million each year in federal grants and, combined with millions more generated from their services and their private fundraising machine, the group has become one of most politically-motivated, agenda-driven and lucrative non-profit organizations in the state. PPNNE refers to parental involvement laws as "interference in a woman’s right to choose." Does anyone dare to say conflict of interest? I do.

While legislators beholden to special interest groups like PPNNE play abortion politics with our children’s lives, as many as 150 minor girls in Vermont this year may find themselves facing the worst day of their lives - all alone. The time has come to stop shaking our heads in disbelief and demand that lawmakers pass a parental notification law in our state and send it to the Governor’s desk for his signature.

-- Mary Beerworth is the Executive Director of Vermont Right to Life (www.vrlc.net)