April 29, 2024
If you wanted to see two completely different approaches to protecting life, you don’t need to look any further than Tennessee and Maine. This week, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee is set to sign into a law legislation that would “make it illegal for adults to help minors get an abortion without parental consent,” according to reporting from the Associated Press.
From the article: “According to the legislation, Tennessee would make it illegal for an adult who ‘intentionally recruits, harbors, or transports’ a pregnant minor within the state to get an abortion without consent from the minor’s parents or guardians.”
Ultimately, the issue of parental consent is extremely serious.
Even among pro-abortion advocates and different age groups, a 2006 poll found that 70% of people support parental consent laws for abortion, which can prevent sex traffickers from hiding their crimes. States with strong parental consent laws can see decreases in sex trafficking.
The sad truth is that 67% of women described their abortions as against their values, unwanted, or coerced, according to a survey from The Charlotte Lozier Institute.
Tennessee’s leaders recognize the barbarism of abortion. And it’s not exactly a secret that Planned Parenthood targets girls for abortion – the barrier to stopping them from increasing abortion on demand among children and teenagers is to go after parental consent laws. Parental notification and consent ensure that girls are protected from dangerous surgical procedures, and that the innocent preborn child caught up in the situation isn’t aborted.
Meanwhile, up in Maine, their Governor just signed into law a bill “protects out-of-state patients who are seeking abortions or gender-affirming care in Maine from legal action in other states,” according to WGME CBS 13.
Thankfully, these kinds of ‘shield laws’ are seen clearly by states with vigorous pro-life protections, like Texas and Florida, who, according to the article, will “challenge any state, including Maine, that may try to shield providers or patients from their states trying to access those procedures in other states where they’re legal, which they see as an ‘end around’ of their laws.”
The value of a preborn life doesn’t rise or fall at state lines. It is fixed, sacred, and worthy of protection from conception onwards, a view shared by an overwhelming majority of biologists. An NIH published study reports: “biologists from 1,058 academic institutions around the world assessed survey items on when a human’s life begins and, overall, 96% (5337 out of 5577) affirmed the fertilization view. The founding principles of the field Science Communication suggest that scientists have an ethical and professional obligation to inform Americans, as well as people around the world, about scientific developments so members of the public can be empowered to make life decisions that are consistent with the best information available.”
The Supreme Court’s recent actions on EMTALA, where the Federal government is attacking the state of Idaho and the Biden Administrations actions on adding abortion to title IX, proves that it’s a federal issue. But until strong Federal legislation can be signed into law, nearly an impossibility if Joe Biden is in The White House, states like Maine can put these anti-child, anti-life laws into effect.
And so the fight goes on.