On the recordApril 17, 2002
Twenty-seven States require parental notification, recognizing the need for parental involvement when daughters face the confusing and sometimes frightening reality of an unexpected pregnancy. Strangers should not be allowed to deprive parents from the right to at least try to protect their daughters from harm by taking these children to another State in violation precisely of the State laws that have been passed to protect the parents' rights and to try to protect the rights of their daughters. What this legislation tries to do is to punish those who smuggle children across State lines to, in effect, dodge the home State laws which are designed to protect the health and safety of children and the rights of the parents. In essence, what we are trying to do today with this legislation is to protect as much as possible the States' rights to have their wishes, as made law by their legislatures, enforced.
Source
govinfo.gov
