Testimony of Eileen Roberts, founder, Mothers against Minors’ Abortions (MAMA) Hearing on the Child Custody Protection Act before the Subcommittee on the Constitution, House Judiciary Committee, May 27, 1999:
“… I am the mother of a daughter who at age 14 underwent an abortion without my knowledge…
… During my daughter’s rebellion towards our parental authority, my daughter was encouraged by her boyfriend, with the assistance of an adult friend, to obtain a secret abortion without my knowledge. This adult friend drove my daughter to the abortion clinic, 45 miles away from our home, and even paid for my daughter’s abortion…
… As a result of her depression, my daughter was hospitalized, at which time it was discovered that the abortion had been incompletely performed and required surgery to repair the damage done by the abortionist…
The following year my daughter developed an infection and was diagnosed as having pelvic inflammatory disease, which again required a two-day hospitalization for IV antibiotic therapy…
To add insult to injury, my husband and I were responsible for our daughter’s medical costs which amounted to over $27,000.
I am here today to ask this committee to reject the eccentric notion that any adult stranger has the right to abduct our minor age daughters and take them to another state for secret abortion. I speak today for those parents I know around the country, whose daughters have been taken out of state for their abortions. Many times these attempts to evade parental notification and consent laws are also attempts to conceal criminal activity, such as statutory rape…
Please allow parents the opportunity to put their arms around their daughters and say “I love you, we can work this through together,” which parental notification and consent laws restore in this legislation will protect…”
Mei Ling Rein. Abortion: an Internal Social and Moral Issue (Wylie, Texas: Information Plus Reference Series, 2000) 130 – 131
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