US Senator Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark, recently voted to allow "a grandparent, aunt, uncle, or religious counselor" to circumvent the authority of parents. How? By voting against the parental notification proposal that would have allowed virtually anyone to take a minor across state lines for an abortion. Her argument was that these individuals whom a young girl may trust could be convicted under the proposed statute and "sent to jail". "I believe this bill could deter young women from seeking help from adults they trust in times of crisis."
Senator Lincoln fails in a couple of significant items in her rather lame argument. First of all, we are not talking about "women"; these are children in the eyes of society as well as of the law. And secondly, it may not always be that the child would need to be "protected" in any sense of the word. It could amount to not much more than finding someone "cool" who will keep their mouths shut about what little Sally Jane and Billy Bob have been up to.
Parents need to know this stuff. In many households, there would indeed be consequences. This is what parents do. We correct our children when they go astray. We blow our lids when we discover some hidden secret about our child. Again, this is what we do. But after the dust settles and emotions subside, we discuss and talk and cry and argue and pray and discuss some more. This, too, is what we do. Senator Lincoln seems to suggest that a teenage girl, or "a grandparent, aunt, uncle, or religious counselor", usually knows better than her parents what might be best for the child. Heck, even pro-abortion US Congressman Vic Snyder voted against this sort of legislation long ago, believing in the authority of the parent.
I suppose what upsets me most about this state of mind is that a US senator believes that she knows better than any parent what is good for a child she's never met and likely never will. There is always more to a story than what the face presents. Usually there is something else far more sinister at work here. If the girl became pregnant, she is obviously having unprotected sex; this in itself is a HUGE, and potentially life-threatening, problem. And even beyond this, depending on the age of the girl, there are certainly bound to be severe emotional problems that will come as a result of such secrecy and it will be the parents who are left the clean up the mess, never knowing what may have happened.
And what's worse is that the "trusted" adult who may have been enabled to transport this minor child across state lines could very well have been the father of the unborn baby. His sorry behind would have been federally protected by the short-sightedness of such arrogance as to believe that the government has more at stake in the life of a child than her parents.
Senator Lincoln, as angry as I am with you right now and as determined as I am that you will not be re-elected to your position, I would never wish that "trusted" adults would think so little of you and your husband as to go behind your backs with your own children and take them across state lines for God-only-knows-what. Remember, Senator Lincoln, that you are not our "leader", and you were not elected to "lead" us. You were elected to REPRESENT us, and at least three national polls show that roughly 75% of the American public is "strongly opposed" to such an idea. It's time for you to begin paying more attention to what is going on at home so that you can best REPRESENT us rather than attempt to "lead" us where we have no intentions of going.
HANDS OFF MY KIDS, Senator. Mind your own @#&$^ business, and go home where you belong. Better yet, when you come up for re-election, I will help you pack.
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