Washington Post:
Interstate Abortion Bill Clears Senate
Minors Would Need Parents' Permission
By Charles Babington
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 26, 2006; Page A01
The Senate voted yesterday to make it a crime to take a pregnant minor to another state to obtain an abortion without her parents' knowledge, handing a long-sought victory to the Bush administration and abortion opponents.
I want, if you don't mind, to talk about rage. Not anger. Rage.
The White House said the measure would "protect the health and safety of minors" and "protect the rights of parents to be involved in the medical decisions of their minor daughters consistent with the widespread belief among authorities in the field that it is the parents of a pregnant minor who are best suited to provide her counsel, guidance and support."
Protect the health and safety of minors. I would like you to consider the fact that congress has passed a bill making it illegal to transport a minor girl across state lines for the purpose of having an abortion. I would like you to think about the fact that this bill treats girls as property. I would like you to think about the fact that girls are sometimes abused. By exactly the man -- the father -- whom congress has now said she must tell if she becomes pregnant.
Opponents said the Senate measure could threaten the safety of girls, saying parents might beat their daughters if they find out about plans for an abortion. The proponents' approach "is not to deal with the reality of young people" in troubled families, said Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.). He cited the case of an Idaho man who impregnated his 13-year-old daughter and then killed her when he learned she had scheduled an abortion.
I want you to think about incest. I want you to think about the very worst thing that can happen to a child.
I want you to consider the denial involved in making it illegal for a girl to get an abortion privately. I want you to think about the terror she feels, at the idea of speaking to her father. I want you to consider the fact that if ONE SINGLE GIRL dies, it will be the result of law.
In a statement, President Bush said: "I appreciate the Senate's efforts to preserve the integrity of state law and protect our nation's families."
I want you to be angry.