A concerned mother testified in favor of a proposed law that would make it a crime for an adult to help a minor evade a state’s parental consent laws by taking her across state lines for an abortion.
Statement of Joyce Farley of Pennsylvania, Hearing on the Child Custody Protection Act before the Subcommittee on the Constitution, House Judiciary Committee, May 21, 1998:
“I’m here today to tell you why I support the Child Custody Protection Act. My daughter was a victim of several horrible crimes between the ages of 12 and 13. My child was provided alcohol, raped, and then taken out of state by a stranger to have an abortion. This stranger turned out to be the mother of the adult male who provided the alcohol and then raped my 12-year-old daughter while she was unconscious. The rapist’s mother arranged and paid for an abortion to be performed on my child. This woman lied and falsified records at the abortion clinic to make sure this abortion would be completed without my knowledge. The abortion had been arranged to destroy evidence – evidence that my 12-year-old daughter had been raped…
Following the abortion, the mother of the rapist dropped off my physically and emotionally battered child in another town 30 miles away from our home. The plan was to keep the rape and abortion a secret. If I’d not contacted the state police… when I found my child missing, she might not be alive today. Severe pain and bleeding revealed complications from an incomplete abortion. This required further medical care and a 2nd abortion to be performed…
The bill you are considering today may help prevent this from happening to my neighbor’s child, my future grandchildren, or any child in the United States. It has been 3 years since these crimes were committed, but my daughter still suffers physically and emotionally…”
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