Abortion consent bill goes to Perry

[The Jacobin]

Senate-backed measure requires parent's OK for those under 18
By JEFFREY GILBERT
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau

AUSTIN - The Senate late Thursday approved and sent to the governor a bill requiring a minor to get written parental consent before she could get an abortion.

Gov. Rick Perry is expected to sign the bill.

Senators voted 23-7 to accept the parental consent language and other amendments that the House had attached to a bill reauthorizing the Texas State Board of Medical Examiners.

"As a mother, I feel very strongly that on any medical procedure performed on one of my minor children, I should be involved and give my consent," said Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, author of Senate Bill 419.

"If, heaven forbid, something like a medical complication arose, the parent has to know," she said.

Earlier this week, the Senate had voted to send the bill to conference committee, but Nelson said Thursday that was no longer needed.

Under the bill, it would be a license violation for a doctor to perform an abortion on a girl younger than 18 without getting the signed consent form.

A judge could bypass the consent requirement by determining that involving a parent could put the minor at risk of physical or emotional abuse, or that she is sufficiently mature to make the decision.

Current law mandates that girls must notify their parents before getting an abortion, but doesn't require written consent.

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http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/3200455

[Ken Burch]

1. Yeah, it's important that Daddy find out

that he got Bubbette pregnant.

Surprised that they didn't forbid expectant teenage girls to wear shoes while they were at it. Coulda called it the "Barefoot and Pregnant Act."