Jane Harman: “As a mother of four children, two daughters and two sons, I find this probably the most difficult part of the debate on…”

“As a mother of four children, two daughters and two sons, I find this probably the most difficult part of the debate on the right to choose. Some years back, when I first considered the issue of parental consent, my response was, I am a responsible parent, I have a trusting relationship with my daughters. I want them to talk to me before seeking to exercise their constitutional right to choose. That was my initial position, until I thought about many other families and many other relationships, and until I consulted my own daughters. Their response was, Mom, of course we would talk to you. We trust you, we know you. We know that you would give advice in our interests, and we also have listened to you over the years, and we know that the best thing to do is to avoid unwanted pregnancies. But nonetheless, they said, what about other girls? What about other families? What about other situations where there is no trust relationship? Then what? And their answer, and I believe it is the answer we have heard from speaker after speaker, was those girls will not talk to their parents; those girls will seek to have unlawful abortions or to make other unwise choices.”