This past week Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill into law requiring parental consent before a minor can have an abortion. Some said it was a win for abortion opponents and a defeat for pro-abortion allies. The bill was hailed as “controversial.” Really?
This has been framed by the pro-abortion camp as primarily an abortion issue, but that is a smokescreen. The real issue is the parents’ rights to make decisions regarding the welfare of their minor children. A minor child cannot get their ears pierced in the State of Florida without parental consent because it is considered minor surgery, but should they be able to have an abortion without their parents’ consent?
If a minor girl has sexual intercourse with an adult it is legally considered rape because she is not old enough to form consent. But should she become pregnant abortionists say she is now a young woman capable of consenting to an abortion. You cannot have it both ways; either she can or cannot legally consent.
Which do you think has the potential to be possibly life threatening a botched ear piercing or a botched abortion? It occurred some time ago in another state, a teacher helped her sixteen year-old student procure an abortion. When the girl became violently ill the parents took her to the doctor.
The girl had contracted septicemia from the less than sterile abortion and girl was afraid to reveal to her parents what she had done. By the time an examination revealed she had an abortion, and the cause for the infection in the blood was discovered, it had spread too far too fast and the girl died.
The rights and responsibilities of parenthood are for the most part understood and assumed. It is a sign of the times that those parental rights and responsibilities must be defined and protected by law.
Paul writing to Timothy said, “But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever,” 1 Timothy 5:8. It is not an interpretive stretch to say based on the biblical principle of parents providing for the needs of their children; one of those things parents have a responsibility to provide for their household is healthcare. But they cannot when those rights are arrogated by others who never assumed the responsibility of bringing a new life into the world and raising that child.
I am not entirely sure the idea by abortionists that such a law will curb abortions is well founded. I have counseled enough young couples to know that the young lady is often coerced by her “Christian” parents to have an abortion to rid themselves of the stigma of an out of wedlock pregnancy. And sadly, I am sure there are enough parents who are pro-abortion to keep the abortion mills busy.
Governor DeSantis did the right thing in protecting parental rights. I pray it does indeed save lives.
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