UNBELIEVABLE!

Life Matters —The Newsletter of the Respect Life Office of the Diocese of Rockford
June 2002

By Patricia Pitkus Bainbridge
Associate Director, Respect Life Office

The Illinois General Assembly has unanimously approved Senate Bill 1658 which will require parental consent for minors to obtain tongue or lip piercing. Pro-abortion forces—who time after time have successfully stopped legislative efforts to require parental notification for minors obtaining abortions—had no difficulty supporting this bill. It now goes to the governor for his signature.

Think about it

Our elected representatives see the wisdom in having parents not only be notified, but to give consent before a minor can undergo certain body piercings. And yet, these same representatives fight aggressively against parental notification for abortions on minor girls. The mere mention of parental consent for abortion with these abortion apologists is met with hostility.

It is just amazing that these pro-abortion legislators cannot see the inconsistency in their thinking—or lack thereof. The often used “it’s my body” argument in an attempt to justify the so-called right to abortion for minors is totally ignored when it comes to body piercing or tattooing (which is prohibited for anyone under the age of twenty-one in the state of Illinois).

A true double standard

Interestingly, there is no provision for judicial bypass in the new parental consent law for body piercing. The Supreme Court of the United States has ruled that judicial bypass must be a part of any parental notification or parental consent law for a minor’s abortion. This means that even in states where parental notification or parental consent laws are passed, a procedure has to be in place whereby minors may receive court approval to obtain an abortion if a judge believes she is mature and capable of giving informed consent to that abortion. In those cases where the minor is not thought to be mature, the judge may still decide that it would be in her best interests and so may bypass the consent law.

Following this reasoning, one would think there must be minors mature enough to decide for themselves whether or not to have their tongues pierced or to get a small tattoo. But, no, judicial bypass applies only to those minors who want to destroy an innocent human being. Fortunately, tongue piercings can be removed and with effort so can tattoos. Dead children and grandchildren—lost through abortion—cannot be brought back. That decision cannot be undone. It is permanent.

It makes no sense

Reasonable people should be able to see that an abortion decision is ultimately more in need of parental involvement than a tattoo or a body piercing, but as our elected officials have just demonstrated, this is not the case when the so-called “right” to abortion is involved.

In Illinois we have laws to protect minors from the dangers of recreational drugs, alcohol, and smoking. There are no laws, however, to protect young girls from the risks associated with abortion (surgical or chemical) and powerful birth control drugs. There are no laws to protect the unborn at any stage of development if the mother decides on abortion. There are no laws to protect infants who have already been born alive but whose mothers had chosen to have them destroyed by abortion.

And yet, we have a law that prohibits minors (under the age of twenty-one) in Illinois from getting a tattoo—even with parental consent. As soon as it is signed by the governor, a law that will require parental consent for piercing of the tongue, lips, cheeks, or any other area of the oral cavity will go into effect. But a twelve-year-old girl who becomes pregnant may legally undergo an abortion without her parents even knowing about it. This simply makes no sense!


Copyright, 2002