The Sunday Star Times has today published yet another story about informed consent, abortion, a young girl, and a lack of parental consent…
Two years ago Natalie’s daughter discovered she was pregnant after taking a store-brought pregnancy test. A scan by a doctor confirmed the test, revealing she was more than three months’ pregnant.What is really important to note about this incident is that as soon as the father spoke to the girl and assured her of his support, the young girl changed her mind and decided to keep the baby. Tragically though, she had already been given the first stage of the abortion, the cervix dilation and labour inducing drug (even thought she hadn’t been fully informed about how the procedure would actually work).
Natalie, who was overseas at the time, said her daughter didn’t feel she could confide in anyone and decided to have a termination.
Four weeks later, and after a number of consultations, her doctor arranged for her to see a counsellor at Hastings Hospital. Her daughter told the Star-Times she was given a piece of paper at the hospital and asked to read and sign it.
She said no one went through it with her or explained what it meant.
“I quickly skimmed through it… to get it over and done with,” she said.
During the session the counsellor contacted Wellington Hospital and arranged for her to head down to the hospital that day, as Hastings Hospital cannot perform second-trimester abortions.
“At no time were the pros and cons of having a termination or keeping the baby discussed with her. They never sat down and went over anything like that,” Natalie said.
“She just said, she got asked, `Do you not think you can be a mother?’ and she said no.” Natalie acknowledged more information may not have changed her daughter’s mind as “at the time she didn’t want the baby”.
Her daughter was given petrol and accommodation vouchers, then drove to Napier to pack her bags. Her boyfriend’s sister drove her to Wellington.
Natalie wondered why her daughter wasn’t at home with the nanny, so rang her estranged husband. When he discovered where his daughter was, he drove to Wellington.
“He was devastated,” she said.
She went home intending to keep the baby, but sadly she miscarried the baby a month later – which is one of the possible outcomes of taking the cervix dilation/labour inducing drug that she took.
She now has her baby’s name, along with a set of tiny footprints, tattooed on her back as a memorial to the baby she lost.
In summation, the three serious issues we have here are:
1. a FIFTEEN year old girl whisked off for a serious surgical procedure without parental consent
2. a lack of proper and accurate information about abortion supplied to the girl (so no proper informed consent was present)
3. young girl and her parents left to deal with the trauma and pain of this event
This tragic and concerning incident could have been totally avoided if parental consent was a legal requirement in NZ, and it provides a very clear (and almost certainly very common) example of how a lack of parental consent is actually NOT in the best interests of the young women it is supposedly intended to protect.
It also demonstrates the fact that many young (and older) women are simply not supplied with the full facts about abortion in this country, and therefore its hard to truly claim that informed consent is actually present in a lot of NZ abortions.
Yep folks, the momentum for law changes around abortion and informed consent and parental consent is definitely growing, and the louder and harder that the pro-choice lobby fights such changes the more it exposes that they really aren’t interested in protecting women, but rather protecting abortion, even abortion without informed consent (i.e. a lack of real ‘choice’ involved).
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