Feminists launch campaign against parental consent laws

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RODE of Thousands of young women demonstrated for reproductive rights on April 9, 1989. The task today is to mobilize the same sentiment to Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority Foundation, has announced a national campaign to enlist 1 million young women on college and high-school campuses to fight laws that curb abortion for teens.

In June of this year, the Supreme Court upheld the Ohio and Minnesota laws that required a young unmarried woman under 18 to notify her parents before obtaining an abortion. Overwhelming evidence has shown that these laws are devastating and even kill the young women they were designed to "protect."

Parental consent, of either one or both parents, is now the law in 34 states— though it is not enforced in all of them.

Several states have provided for a judicial-bypass procedure, allowing a judge to grant abortion in certain cases. But a court bypass is not always easy to come by. In Massachusetts, many judges refuse to hear abortion cases. In Minnesota, court hearings on abortions are available in only two locations.

In Ohio, the bypass process could take 22 days-preventing many young women from having abortions in the first trimester, when the procedure is simpler, safer, and less costly. Nevertheless, the Supreme Court still upheld the law.

In most states, moreover, teenagers do not need parental consent nor notification to receive treatment for drug or alcohol abuse, venereal disease, or to carry a pregnancy to term.

As part of the Foundation's campaign, "Becky Bell and Rosie Jimenez Brigades" will be formed. Becky Bell was a 17-yearold Indiana woman who died because of the restrictive parental-consent law that forced her to seek a back-alley abortion. Rosie Jimenez was the first known victim of the Hyde Amendment, which blocked federal continue defense of abortion rights.

Medicaid abortion funding for poor women.

One feature of the campaign is a new video, "Abortion • Denied—Shattering Young Women's Lives." The film shows very graphically why the true intent of parental-consent laws is to punish young MY BODY women and girls.

More than 1 million teenage women become pregnant in the United States each year. That's one out of every 10 teens under the age of 20. Half of all premarital teen pregnancies occur within six months of the number of teenagers' first sexual experiences.

A goal of the campaign is to have this video shown on every high-school and college campus. Smeal said that "if the campaign is denied access to high schools, the Feminist Majority is prepared to take legal action."

The campaign was kicked off in Massachusetts in late August, the week Becky Bell would have turned 19. Massachusetts was the first state with parentalconsent laws for abortion, establishing the standards for these laws with the Supreme Court test on parental consent, Bellotti v. Baird.

The campaign will also move to Indiana, Becky Bell's home state. Despite the Supreme Court's standards, it is nearly impossible to secure a judicial waiver under Indiana's parental-consent law. The campaign will challenge the Indiana judges who hear the waiver requests and are known to rule based on their anti-abortion views.

The Foundation is working in conjunction with the National Organization for Women and will continue the campaign in Minnesota, Ohio, California, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island.

Ever since the Roe v. Wade ruling in 1973, politicians and the courts have been chipping away at abortion rights. The campaign is designed to put a halt to this process. Young women and girls are being injured and are dying. These restrictive laws must be stopped.

Joseph Ryan/Socialist Action -Women signing-up for clinic defense in San Francisco, Calif.

things in contribution to the community and be very visible in our individual lives. That's our long-term thing, but I think the big thing for us right now is reproductive rights. It's just so damn basic.

Melissa: It's urgent right now.

SA: There was quite a lot of press coverage after last year's national NOW conference in Cincinnati about the idea of forming a third party that would be more responsive to women's needs. What's your thinking about that?

Melissa: I personally don't have any problem with exploring the idea. I think both mainstream political parties have been rather unresponsive. One of them just flat right out shows no respect for women's democratic rights and the other sometimes gives lip service to it, but doesn't always follow through.

Vivian: But what's important is that if one's formed we make it an effective one and not one that takes away from power. That's really important, that it be effective. ION OCTOBER 1990 5

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