Ten states may have abortion on the ballot this November. If passed these amendments would enshrine all-trimester abortion, eviscerate health protections for women, ensure taxpayer funding of abortion, and even eliminate parental rights. Though underage girls may not be old enough to buy cough syrup, keep medicine in their locker, or get their ears pierced on their own, they will be able to get an abortion without the consent of mom or dad under abortion ballot measures.
Parental rights have broad support amongst pro-life and even pro-choice voters – and particularly those in red states. According to national polling from Rasmussen, 64% of voters believe abortionists should be required to notify parents before performing abortions on girls under age 18 and 60% believe parental permission should be required.
Attuned to this unpopular aspect of abortion ballot measures, left-leaning reporters are trying to run cover for the abortion industry. Andrea Gonzalez-Ramirez writes of Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft’s description on Missouri’s Amendment 3 in an article for The Cut:
“Ashcroft’s language echoed anti-abortion advocate’s furious misinformation campaign to convince voters that Amendment 3 goes much farther than Roe . . . that it’d eliminate parental consent (a false anti-trans talking point that Republicans also tried to employ to defeat Michigan’s and Ohio’s recent ballot measures) . . .”
The truth is that abortion measures threaten parental consent. Here’s why:
In writing these amendments, the abortion lobby was very intentional about the words they did and didn’t use so that minors can go around their guardians to get abortions. Rather than use the word “woman,” the Arizona ballot measure guarantees every “individual” the right to an abortion. Missouri’s uses the word “person” and measures in Montana, Nebraska, and Florida say “patient.” All of these terms are inclusive of underage girls.
Florida’s language is particularly deceptive with the second sentence of the amendment reading: “This amendment does not change the Legislature’s constitutional authority to require notification to a parent or guardian before a minor has an abortion.”
The line was included so as not to conflict with another section of the state constitution which requires parental notification. The authors could have included “and consent” in the line but they did not. The result will be mom or dad will be notified – maybe after the fact – but they don’t have a say in their underage daughter’s decision to have a late-term abortion.
Last week, Vote No On 4 Florida brought attention to a link on Amendment 4’s website encouraging minors to seek abortions with zero involvement from doctors or parents.
The next day the reckless advice was deleted from the webpage.
Similarly in Ohio last year, the ACLU told local media existing parental consent and notification laws in Ohio “should not be enforced under Amendment 1 and Unite for Reproductive and Gender Equity said “It’s time to END parental involvement laws. We’re ALL worthy of self-determination!”
In South Dakota, the ACLU has declined to financially back Amendment G because the measure is not as overt as other states’ amendments on parental rights. They oppose the use of the word “women” in South Dakota’s amendment because they fear it “could give the Legislature the ability to exclude minors.” In reality, the failure to specify age in the amendment puts parents at risk as South Dakota law includes girls under the age of 18 in the definition of “woman.”
The ACLU and Planned Parenthood are tearing down parental consent wherever they can, even in red states with conservative leaders. For years, Planned Parenthood worked to end Montana’s Parental Consent for Abortion Act. In August, the state Supreme Court struck it down based on the organization’s lawsuit – 11 years after it became law. Gov. Greg Gianforte responded to the decision saying:
“As a strong defender of parental rights, I’m deeply concerned and disappointed by today’s ruling from the Montana Supreme Court, which states parents do not have a fundamental right to oversee the medical care of their young daughters. In its ruling, the Court has wielded its gavel like a hammer against one of the fundamental rights in our history: the right of parents to consent to the medical care of their minor children.”
Similarly, Planned Parenthood has run to the courts in Alaska and Indiana arguing that a so-called right to abortion cannot be ‘burdened’ by parental consent. The Alaska Supreme Court ended parental consent and in May, a federal court struck down Indiana’s parental consent law.
More litigation may be coming soon in Michigan under Prop 3 after voters have decided the fate of 2024 ballot measures. In March of 2024, the ACLU of Michigan began laying the groundwork for a challenge with a published report arguing that parental consent laws “harm young people” and should be repealed.
Want to read the language of the amendments yourself? You can find links to the ballot measures in Arizona, Florida, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, and South Dakota at lifesavinglaws.com by clicking on the “2024 Ballot Measures” button and viewing the chart below the map.
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