After listening to the ongoing debate regarding Ballot Measure 2, which would require parental notification when a pregnant teenager seeks an abortion, I feel compelled to share what I learned from the teenagers who I once represented within the child protection and juvenile delinquency systems. I vigorously oppose Measure 2, as it would put many of our teenage girls' lives at risk and does nothing to enhance their safety or protect their wellbeing.
Under the best of circumstances in loving and supportive families, communication flows easily between child and adult and teenagers do not hesitate to talk with their parents when they need help -- for any reason. In fact, in the most ideal of all worlds, teenagers would not get pregnant, as they are wholly unprepared for the responsibilities of parenthood.
I am aware that our community has rigorous differences of opinion about abortion and that teen pregnancy is an emotional issue. Measure 2 is not, however, the best community response that we can draft to address a situation that already presents multiple dangers to our children. In fact, Measure 2 may be the worst response to teen pregnancy.
As an attorney, I represented hundreds of children who were victims of sexual assault and physical abuse. While some of my clients were very young, most were children between the ages of 8 and 17. Almost every one of my teenage clients had been raped by at least one of the parent figures in their lives -- a father, stepfather, mother's boyfriend, grandfather or uncle. Some suffered multiple rapes by different individuals.
Various government systems whose missions were to protect these teens had failed them miserably, and the idea of turning to a judicial system that had already failed them would never have been considered by these teenagers to be a viable option.
It is impossible for those of us who were raised in loving and caring homes to conceive of the things that some men do to children. As an educated community, however, we know that there are men among us who assault our children, children who cannot escape their homes, who are not able to protect themselves and whose mothers cannot protect them.
Measure 2 puts these children at further risk of harm by putting a barrier in the way of seeking help. In families where there is abuse of any kind, children, regardless of their age, cannot be expected to go to their parents for help. If their mothers are victims of domestic violence, their mothers cannot protect them from the abusive parent figure in the house and certainly cannot provide help to a pregnant teenager.
For pregnant teenage girls who live in these dangerous conditions, talking with their parents about a pregnancy is simply not an option.
Teenage girls who are pregnant, regardless of how they got pregnant, need community support. They need safe access to medical help without the burden of a bureaucracy. Pregnant teens need thoughtful and educated adults to help them deal with what is, under the very best of circumstances, a very difficult and challenging situation.
As a community, we cannot force families to talk with one another any more than we can force parents to be kind, loving and supportive to their children.
Teenagers who are pregnant need our help, not our hindrance. The way that we can best help pregnant teenage girls is to ensure a safe way for them to access competent medical care and counseling while they are pregnant, and, if a pregnant teenager decides to carry the pregnancy, the safety of the fetus that she is carrying. These girls need to know that they have a means of gaining medical advice and that the dangerous options that are otherwise available to them through the Internet are not their best available choices.
Pregnant teenage girls deserve our love and support, not overly simplistic, misleading solutions to the complex personal problems that pregnant teenagers must face. Please join me in voting NO on Measure 2. This is not a solution to anything.
Donna J. Goldsmith is an attorney living in Anchorage who was involved in child protection, family violence and juvenile delinquency matters for several decades.
DONNA J. GOLDSMITH
Compass