Oh, and of course no on Prop 4:
What of the "parental involvement" Proposition 4 wants to mandate? In California, the majority of young people (79%) already talk to their parents about sexual issues. According to studies, anywhere between 61-70% of teens nationally involve their parents in their decision about whether or not to have an abortion. That number skyrockets to 90% in minors 15 years old and younger. When a young woman, 16 years old or older, chooses not to, there are usually good reasons. According to the ACLU:
One study showed that 22% of teens who did not tell a parent about their abortion decision feared that, if they told their parents, they would be kicked out of the house. More than 8% feared that they would be physically abused because their parents had beaten them before. Of those who did not tell a parent, 12% did not live with either parent and 14% had parents who abused drugs or alcohol.
It's not only about communication with parents though. Abortion providers would not be doing their jobs if they did not advocate for the health and well being of their patients -- and that usually means encouraging parental involvement when it's safe and possible. "I think that people don't know that abortion providers usually encourage parental involvement -- it's just better all around if it's possible," says Peg Johnston. "Younger teens almost always involve family and older teens mostly fear disapproval of their parents." In fact, Peg created the Mom, Dad, I'm Pregnant project to "help teens tell their parents, and almost more importantly, to help parents respond in helpful, rather than hurtful ways."
4 comments:
Hey,
Just discovered your blog via a comment you left on Racialicious. Thanks for putting this together! I am a man doing pro-feminist work out of Chicago and it is hard to find men who are struggling with similar issues and who would like to talk about them with me. I really appreciate your blog.
-Steve
Thanks for stopping by, Steve. I don't post here too often these days, but I keep it around because I and several other men put a lot of work into it at one point. Who knows if it might come alive again at some point!
Hi, I just discovered your blog via your response to Tim Wise's comments on Racialicious. Thank you so much for summing up my sentiments.
Mark
Thanks for saying so, Mark. It's tough, because Wise has done more good work for anti-racism issues than I'll likely ever do, but we all get called out sometimes. It's nice to hear I'm not the only one with a problem regarding how Wise is addressing the subject of Obama.
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