Session Update
By: Import User
Updated: January 7, 2009
"Mother may I?" is a game children play. But a house committee says its a serious question young girls need to ask their parents before getting an abortion. The positive voice vote taken today sends to the full house a bill requiring girls to get a notarized parental signature before having the procedure. The bill does provide for the process of a judicial bypass of consent in cases of sexual, mental or physical abuse. During the two hour debate opponents argued that the bill could delay an abortion, thus creating health risks by having to deal with an older fetus. They also said that the proposal`s real goal is to legislate good families and that`s not possible. Arkansas already has a parental notification law in case of abortion. If this bill passes the house and senate and becomes law, Arkansas will be the 19th state requiring parental consent.
