Quote:
Originally posted by ltl/fb
And I'm curious why club is not giving any response about how those kinds of consent are different from consenting to abortion.
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Well, the policy reasons for these sorts of treatment are similar to what we're arguing about abortion. If the kid can't consent for him or herself and has to have a parent involved, he or she may not seek treatment that the state thinks is more important to receive than the consent. Drug and alcohol. Pregnancy. Communicable diseases the kid may have obtained having sex. Suicide counseling. Kids can hide all of these things (including pregnancy in some cases, definitely when pre-natal care is a good idea) from their parents, and the state thinks it's better for them to go ahead and go to the doctor without their parents' involement than not at all.
On a side note, it's frustrating as hell when a pregnant kid wants to skip school. She schedules a physician's appointment, gets the confirmation note and hands it to the school for a legitimate excuse, and she never shows up for the appointment. Her mother calls because kid is having truancy issues, and the clinic has to figure out how much they can tell mom (everything) and whether or not mom can make appointments for pregnant kids that kid has to keep (grey area).
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