ICAH Says IL Parental Notification Law Endangers Young Women
In a Letter to the Editor, Soo Ji Min, Executive Director of the Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health – which hosted last month’s Urban Initiative for Reproductive Health Midwest Regional Summit – takes issue with a Chicago Tribune editorial in support of the Illinois Parental Notice of Abortion Act. Noting that the editorial employs the same worn out arguments to oversimplify a complex issue, she writes:
At first glance, parental involvement laws–either notification or consent–for abortion do seem like common sense measures in the best interest of young women. But, with a little more consideration and analysis, we know that’s not how the world works. Parental involvement laws can put young women at risk after a pregnancy is disclosed. A 16-year-old woman had no previous history of physical abuse. Yet when her brother and father discovered her pregnancy, they beat her severely.
Read the full letter here.
By Maya Dusenbery