Parental Consent

Here are the provisions of abortion laws in Maryland and surrounding states:DelawareDelaware follows the guidelines established by Roe v. Wade, allowing liberal access to abortions in the first six months of pregnancy. Lawmakers have not enacted any additional restrictions on access to abortion.The U.S. Supreme Court's decision yesterday "doesn't have any impact" on existing law but "may well renew debate" over proposals for new restrictions, said Attorney General Charles M. Oberly 3rd. For example, he cited a parental consent proposal that has so far failed to reach a vote in the legislature.

An Anne Arundel County official joined advocates for children in urging the General Assembly yesterday to ban marriage under the age of 16, calling the current statute permitting such unions "a shotgun law for pregnant adolescents."Robert P. Duckworth, clerk of the county Circuit Court, noted the well-publicized marriage of a pregnant 13-year-old girl and the baby's 29-year-old father last August in Annapolis. The case of Tina Lynn Akers and Phillip Wayne Compton Jr. received international attention, bringing calls for legislation to ban such marriages.

Concerned about the proliferation of navel hoops and tongue studs in teen-agers, Baltimore County is proposing criminal penalties for body-piercing of minors without a parent's permission. A bill scheduled for debate tomorrow and a vote later this month would prohibit piercing of those younger than 18 without written parental consent. Violators would face a $500 fine, 90 days in jail or both. The measure would close a loophole left in previous county regulations that required minors to obtain parental consent for tattoos.

ON WEDNESDAY the Supreme Court heard arguments on a Pennsylvania law that would restrict access to abortion in that state. At the same time, demonstrators from both sides of the question face each other across the unbridgeable moat of their disparate beliefs outside clinics in Buffalo.With all this activity, in the courts and in the streets, it is important to remember that we have taken this debate exactly nowhere in the last 20 years. The great social issues of this country are settled, not with placards or legal briefs finally, but in hearts and minds.

WASHINGTON - The House passed a bill yesterday that would make it a federal crime for an adult to transport an underage girl across state lines to have an abortion without the consent of her parents. A vote on a similar bill is expected in the Senate later this spring or early this summer, and backers says its chances are good. The measure, called the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act, passed 270-157, and was a victory for abortion opponents, who have been pushing an ambitious legislative agenda now that Congress is under strengthened Republican control.

Panel favors ban on felons' use of fund A proposal to ban certain felons from tapping into a state fund for crime victims has been approved by the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee. Sen. James Brochin's measure would ban people convicted of murder, assault, sexual offenses, robbery, serious drug charges and other felonies from receiving awards from the Maryland Criminal Injuries Compensation Board. The board compensates crime victims for medical bills, burial expenses and lost wages.

BOSTON - I won my merit badge in Raising a Teenager. I still wear this small and rather tattered patch on my maternal sleeve. So I get it. I understand the fear that your 15-year-old is in trouble and you're out of the loop. I understand the anger that someone else is with your 17-year-old in a crisis and you don't even know about it. This is why the laws requiring parental notification and consent have fared so much better than anything else on the anti-abortion wish list. No one thinks a teenage girl should go through the trauma of an unwanted pregnancy or the decision about abortion without a caring parent.

It could have been my little brother. It could have been me.That's what the 16-year-old girl thinks when she hears about the 1.6 million abortions performed annually, or the more than 22 million since abortion was legalized.Her mother was single both times when she got pregnant, and both times she considered abortions, said the Catonsville girl, who asked that her name not be used."I wouldn't have my brother if my mother had had an abortion. All her friends, and her family, were saying, 'Get an abortion,' " she said.

Parental notification enables pregnant girls to secure support Cleo Braver of Planned Parenthood, the nation's leading abortion provider and promoter, called parental-notice legislation "frightening" in her column "Women want the right to make a choice" (Opinion Commentary, Jan. 29). What is truly frightening are frightened girls, some as young as 12 years old, facing the trauma of an unplanned pregnancy on their own. Without parental support and guidance they can undergo a surgical procedure with risk and complications that could affect them for the rest of their lives.

TWENTY-FIVE YEARS ago today, when the Supreme Court issued long-awaited rulings in two abortion cases, even advocates of legal abortion were surprised by the extent of their victory. After years of fighting for incremental liberalization, almost no one expected the court to overrule virtually all restrictions on legalized abortion.The decision erased the need for an underground network of abortion counselors and providers. Some of these services had offered access to competently performed abortions.