Pregnant Minors Need ‘Choices’

Imagine a situation in which a 16-year-old Alaska girl finds herself pregnant, sitting before her parents and on the verge of telling everything. She knows they will be saddened and disappointed. They might even be angry. She also knows that they love her and want the best for her. But in fear, she remains quiet.

It’s no secret that many pregnant teen mothers wrestle with whether to keep their unborn baby or end that life so that they can avoid an uncertain future.

In Alaska, a minor girl can legally bypass her parents’ counsel and emotional resources, and secretly head to an abortion clinic without their ever knowing.

It’s not that these teens rely on no one for advice. Rather, they turn to the recommendations of abortion practitioners, desperate boyfriends or others who may, in fact, have a vested interest in seeing the girl end the life of her unborn baby.

If she goes through with the secret abortion, she then must recover from the surgical procedure without her parents knowing. She would also need to hide any emotional trauma that she might suffer, while perpetually concealing this decision from the very people who have cared for her all her life.

In Alaska, several hundred teenage girls conceive unexpected babies every year and then go on to end those lives through abortions.

Last year, Alaska teens accounted for 353 abortions — one out of every five in the state.

Working to reduce teen pregnancy by empowering underage girls to delay sex until they are married is a laudable goal but one that does not address the reality of what happens when a teen first discovers she is pregnant.

A petition now circulating throughout Alaska is attempting to address that very issue. If successful, it will allow Alaska voters to decide whether an abortion practitioner must, at the very least, notify a girl’s parents before taking the life of her unborn child.

Opponents of the petition, led by the nation’s largest abortion provider — Planned Parenthood — say parental involvement laws only serve to coerce girls into keeping a baby against their will by giving parents the final say.

But looked at in a more comprehensive light, the law might actually empower teens by increasing their overall number of viable choices.

In the vast majority of cases, mothers and fathers love and care for their teenage girls more than any abortion practitioner, family friend or scared boyfriend ever could. If parents knew their daughter’s situation, they would have the chance to rally all available resources to her aid. Ideas that might never have occurred could have a chance to germinate. Grandparents could have a chance to help raise their grandchild. And the minor girl’s siblings could have the opportunity help care for their new niece or nephew. Family friends might be able to offer financial or material aid.

All of these options, however, are left unknown and unheard when a teenage girl gives into fear and quietly aborts her baby without involving her parents.

Alaska owes pregnant teens the chance to be supported by parents and families. Only then, will these girls be able to see and choose from realistic and viable choices.