My daughter got a headache while she was at school. Since the school district is not allowed to administer any medication without written consent, I set off on a 40- minute round trip to give her some Tylenol.
As I think about this simple event I can not help but contemplate the issue of parental consent in Alaska's abortion law. Beyond pro-choice, or pro-life, there is an absurd contradiction in that law: A parent must give consent for all medicine or medical care for their child except for procedures having to do with abortion.
All the devices, medicines, and injections, as well as the risks posed by abortion, are for the child to decide. Everything from the surgical dilator placed in the cervix, the administration of a dilation medication, the administration of anesthetic, the antibiotics, the injections of numbing medication, use of the dilating instrument, tube insertion and vacuum extraction.
Yes, the very age bracket that seldom reads fine print and has not learned the fine art of discriminating between good doctors and bad ones; the same age group that is given a higher driver's insurance premium for their propensity to make unwise choices while operating a vehicle (if they even have a license to drive at all) can make their decision on abortion all on their own. Scary!
Requiring parental consent for all medical procedures except for a medical procedure is what is known as an oxymoron -- emphasis on the moron.
The government, via the school district, will not allow my daughter to receive pain medicine administered without written consent, but she can be allowed to receive pain medication if administered after having an abortion?
Regardless of one's stand on abortion, this is a flagrant abuse of parental rights and should be cause for alarm and rectification.
I want to know one thing: Am I allowed to make decisions with regard to my daughter in every aspect of her care or not? If I am going to be held responsible for her mistakes, then I should be allowed to be responsible for a medical procedure, for heaven's sake.
If additional medical care became necessary because of complications related to the abortion procedure, who is going to be footing the bill? My daughter? The friend or mentor who convinced her to do it? No!
At that point my daughter would be forced to tell about the abortion because she couldn't get admitted to the hospital to receive care without my consent. My insurance would then be billed and I would be responsible for payment.
My daughter must have my permission to get a job at 14; she must have my permission to be able to drive at 16; but on her own she can have a medical procedure whose risks include: infection, infertility, possible death, and emotional difficulties?
What can I ascertain in regard to this anomaly? Only that my rights, as a parent, to make choices for my child end when someone else believes that this choice should fall into the hands of the adolescent -- who, might I add, didn't make the right choice in the first place.
It may be my daughter's body; but until she's 18, I'm paying for it. That's my child and my choice. I should choose for my child based on my love and a lifelong knowledge of her and her health. What better place to make a decision than that?
parents rights
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