Abortion Consent Law Struck Down

Re “State Justices Strike Down Abortion Consent Law,” Aug 6:

I applaud the California Supreme Court’s decision allowing minors to obtain abortions without parental consent. If a girl is old enough to have a child, she is old enough to have an abortion.

Abortion foes naively point to laws prohibiting minors from obtaining other types of medical treatment without parental consent, and say abortion should be handled likewise. This kind of thinking denies the unique set of circumstances from which the need for abortion arises, as well as its vastly different consequences.

For those who object to their daughters getting abortions on their own, I suggest they exercise their “parental rights” by teaching them how to avoid becoming pregnant in the first place, and support sex education taught in our schools.

RICK GARTNER

Laguna Beach

The decision underscores the gravity of the teen pregnancy problem in California. Each year, approximately 30,000 of California’s teenage girls receive abortions. California leads the nation in teen pregnancy rates and the state has the second-highest teen abortion rate.

With so many kids already having kids, California must get serious about preventing teen pregnancy. Since the state Supreme Court believes that minors should have unsupervised access to obtaining an abortion, state lawmakers must find a way to help teens avoid a traumatic abortion by preventing teen pregnancies before they happen.

Although abstinence programs are not foolproof methods to prevent pregnancy, abstinence programs can instill teenagers with enough self-confidence to reject sexual advances and delay having children until they reach a more appropriate age. My SB 534 appropriates nearly $40 million in state and federal funds for the production of media spots--television commercials, radio commercials and public service announce- ments--to reduce teen pregnancy by convincing our young people that it’s OK not to have sex.

BETTY KARNETTE

State Senator, D-Long Beach

Who said judges are not political. Ten years ago we had the California rule that children cannot have an abortion without a parent’s consent. After one of the justices leaves the bench this court reviews this ruling and switches it back. When were, or are, they wrong? Is there any wonder why most people think the justice system is a joke.

FRANCIS JANSEN

Northridge