Minors should be required to get parental approval before getting an abortion.

Firstly I must admit this is a widely debated issue. This issue becomes more clear once it is looked at in depth and with reason. There are numerous categories that fall under abortion -to terminate a pregnancy that will be detrimental to a mothers health/life (medical abortion) -to terminate an unwanted pregnancy (medical abortion) -a biologically driven miscarriage (voluntary/involuntary) (spontaneous abortion) -car accident (involuntary), throwing self down the stairs (voluntary) (non-medical; non-biological spontaneous abortion) I will proceed with the assumption that PRO is referring to medical abortions (permission for a car accident or a miscarriage is a silly thing to request and not always necessary). Before I overview PRO's arguments lets consider why medical abortions are carried out. Medical abortions are carried out by physicians, in order to preserve a mother's life, or to terminate an unwanted pregnancy. PRO states that "Children are not capable of making any decisions for themselves without the input of their parents." Where should I begin. Children can decide if they want to tie their left shoe or right shoe first. They can decide without anyone's help if they want to drink a glass of milk or laser-shooting-bees on fire. However I understand you may be referring to the maturity level of children in regards to an unfamiliar situation and that the decision might not be at their level and so the parents make the decision. HOWEVER this is only one side of the story. Physicians assess the maturity of minors requesting an abortion. The process is normal in every physician-patient encounter and involves the physician assessing the patient's "capacity, and decision making potential". They will talk to the minor and analyze if she can understand the consequences of her action and decisions. This process determines if the patient has the POTENTIAL to make her own decisions or not (whether it is for/against abortion). If the physician determines that the patient has the capacity to make a decision then the physician may respect the patient's decision over that of the parents (because the patient is the patient, the physician is responsible to the patient first). But in most cases the physician will try and accept a decision that will benefit the patient the most. The physicians also recognize patient-physician confidentiality clauses. (in U.S.A these vary from state-to-state regarding abortion for minors). Thus for a patient who has decision making capacity regarding abortion, it may not be required for the physician to inform the parents, yet alone get their permission. Parents have legal rights over their children to some limited/reasonable extent. However if their decisions/actions (not respecting the daughter's own decision) will result in harm to their daughter (ie not wanting to abort a pregnancy that may kill their daughter), then the physician can take legal action against the parents and child services agencies and the court will also get involved in the decision making. Im confident about my sources that I will not cite any, however I will cite them once you challenge them.