If the school nurse wants to give your kids an aspirin, you need to give them permission. If your kids are truant from school, you can be taken to court and held personally responsible. However, if your teenage child wants to get an abortion, the state’s current position is that you don’t have the right to know. There is something wrong with this, and according to Steve Terrell, at least one legislator is trying to do something to rectify the situation:
The [House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee] panel is scheduled to discuss abortion (the parental-notification bill, House Bill 239, which would require abortion doctors to notify parents of teenage girls seeking abortions, sponsored by Rep. Larry Larranaga, R-Albuquerque).
It will be interesting to see which legislators don’t support a parent’s right to know.