It Takes a Village to Lobby: The Hypocrisy of Planned Parenthood

Jane Abel / May 09, 2011

Large majorities of the public favor parental notice before an abortion can be performed on a minor girl, and the laxity of current laws on the issue continues to draw the attention of policymakers- and the support of abortion providers like Planned Parenthood, which routinely challenges parental rights in this area.  But Planned Parenthood is fully capable of setting a standard of parental rights when they align with their interest, as news out of California demonstrates.  Planned Parenthood there is requiring parental consent for Sacramento teens to lobby against legislation that would warn women considering abortion of the psychological effects they may face.

As Assemblyman Tim Donnelly of California presented AB 1306 before a health committee on May 5, Planned Parenthood took teens out of school for Teen Capitol Day in Sacramento.  Their mission: to meet with lawmakers and oppose the bill that requires women to be provided with a pre-abortion counseling session informing them of possible psychological and physiological side-effects.  Before the teens could be ferried to the state capital to fight against a bill that has the physical and mental well-being of women in mind, they, naturally enough, had to obtain the permission of their parents. (more…)