Notifications Promote Family Values Response Summoning Help Ashamed Or Fearful Teens May Find Parents Supportive.

“My parents will kill me.”

This thought travels through the minds of teens when they contemplate actions that might get them in trouble with their parents.

Skipping school, drinking, doing drugs, having sex, taking birth control pills, getting pregnant, having an abortion. All are actions that most teens would prefer their parents not discover.

But 99 percent of the time when teens make these choices and their parents find out, the parents do not murder their teens.

Instead, the crisis in the teen’s life can promote communication between parent and teen. It can lead to counseling and needed examination of dysfunctional family patterns. It often exposes to the light some problems the teens need to face to grow healthy into adulthood. Problems of depression, low self-esteem or problems stemming from secrets the teens have kept since childhood, such as bullying and sexual abuse.

The Washington state Senate recently passed a bill that would require physicians to notify the parents or legal guardians of minors seeking abortions. As with all abortion laws, this one polarizes people.

One side argues that it is a sneaky attempt by pro-lifers to erode abortion rights, under the guise of protecting teens. The other side says blind allegiance to abortion rights erodes the power of parents to rule in their homes.

Both extremes ignore the common sense argument for parental notification. Parents must be notified, and also must give consent, for many childhood experiences, such as sports, field trips, surgery and even taking aspirin at school. We’re talking abortion here, a medical procedure that sometimes can result in complications, both medically and emotionally. And parents have no notice, no input?

Yes, some girls do live in abusive families where news of a pregnancy would result in more abuse. The bill provides for that and allows other family members, or the court, to substitute.

Parental notification acknowledges that many teens, when they find themselves “in trouble,” need support, love, advice - and understanding - from their parents. And much to their surprise, they often receive it.

, DataTimes MEMO: For opposing view, see headline: Forcing the issue toward a bitter end

The following fields overflowed: SUPCAT = COLUMN, EDITORIAL - From both sides CREDIT = Rebecca Nappi For the editorial board’s dissenters