David Weldon: “I want to point out that that amendment that I rise in support of calls for a parental notification, not consent. So we…”

“I want to point out that that amendment that I rise in support of calls for a parental notification, not consent. So we need to debate the facts here. I encourage all my colleagues to support the Istook-Manzullo amendment and reject the Castle amendment. If we really do support family integrity, the United States, and indeed going back into history, British law has a long-standing tradition of parental rights where parents have the authority and control over raising their kids. We, in this country, beginning with this program as it began in 1975, began in a direction that is in direct violation of that principle in the sense that now the Federal Government is funding a program that will allow minor children, females, to go in and see a physician and get contraceptive services, to include injections of medications, placement of IUD's, without parental consent, with absolutely no knowledge of their parents. Some of these interventions are not without risks. As many of my colleagues know, prior to coming here, I was a full-time practicing physician. One of the drugs that is dispensed, for example, in these clinics, is injections of a drug called Depo-Provera, a drug that has associated with it the potential complications of thromboembolic disease, which is blood clots, blood clots in the legs, blood clots traveling to the lungs.”