Date: 1998-07-15
Speaker: LINDA SMITH (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Washington

Mr. Speaker. I want to again say what H.R. 3682 does. because sometimes in the debate what it does gets lost. This bill simply makes it a Federal offense to transfer a minor girl across State lines to obtain an abortion in order to circumvent that States parental consent laws. It is very simple. It is a fundamental principle that parents protect their children and have the rights. unless they are not good parents. and then they are given to a guardian. sometimes a grandparent. sometimes someone else. But someone is ultimately in charge of that child because someone needs to be responsible to protect that child. Without this bill our children are at risk. Now we hear situations today described as if every family is normal and every uncle. every grandma and every cousin and everyone that would like to should be able to take a little girl. 12. 13. 14. to another State for an abortion. I am a grandma of six. I have one grandchild reaching teenage years in a couple years. and I would not Want her to be taken across a State line by some of the relatives I have had in my background. The fact that they are a relative does not mean that they could not be the problem. I guess ultimately we have to start thinking about whether or not parents have any rights or not. This is an issue of parental rights. and it is about the rights of the parents. Do they have the rights in the childs life to be ultimately responsible for that child? Now we have heard the example of the 12yearold. It is real where the mother of the 18yearold took the child across State lines. and. by the way. charges against her were dropped. She did not do anything wrong. Well. I would tell my colleagues. as a mother of someone that had teenagers. I would be incensed because my little girl could not even get aspirin at the school without permission. she definitely could not get dental work. and no hospital would accept her. no clinic. no reputable physician. without her mother or her fathers permission. Now let us just get right down to what an abortion is and what it does. Most of the time we are dealing with a person that is going to bleed extensively. We are dealing with a young woman that needs aftercare. We are dealing with someone that needs her mother. Now my colleagues can stand and say she has a right to this. but I say she has a right to her mother. and. if someone has parents that are not good enough to be parents. we have procedures to let someone else be their guardian. Little girls of 12. 13. 14. and I know some would say they are women with the same rights as any other women. no. they are little girls. are going to go through cramps. they are going to go through bleeding. they are going to sometimes go through the need of surgery. and you are telling me that I do not have a right as a mother to know? I do. And that is what this bill is a part of. But now you are going to say that if we do not pass this bill. everything will be just fine? This just says you cannot take kids across State lines where States say parents should be involved. at least being notified. You are saying they can take them to a State. bring them back. and they are not notified. they are not involved. until the little girl starts bleeding to death or she is sterile because she did not take care of herself. because she did not want to tell anybody because she got across State lines. No. you see. this is not even reasonable. This bill makes sense. If we have got bad parents. we have procedures for them. But to assume all parents are bad and we have to take their children away somewhere to have abortions is a wrong assumption. This is a very good bill. It is reasonable. whether you are prolife or prochoice. because we are all proparent and we are all profamily.