Who are the parents?

[KBCraig]

http://www.unionleader.com/articles_showa.html?article=58196

Karen Testerman:
Just who are the parents of NH's children, the Legislature?
By KAREN TESTERMAN
Guest Commentary
Telephone Credit Union

ACCORDING TO the New Hampshire Supreme Court, "parental rights are 'natural, essential, and inherent rights' within the meaning of the state Constitution."

The American Bar Association recognizes that "Parents have a right to direct the care, control, and upbringing of their children. This gives them the power to make various decisions, including where to live, what school to attend, what religion to follow, and what medical treatment to obtain."

But, just who are the parents? Are they your mother and father, or the state whose Legislature declares what procedure must be followed in specific situations?

Do you want to get a tan at the local tanning salon? Or do you want to get some form of body piercing, to wear that twinkling diamond or metal stud? Well, according to the laws passed by state legislators, if you are under the majority age of 18 you must have your parents' written permission to get that tan or piercing.

Maybe you want to get a tattoo (although you should first consider that it is a fad and think hard and fast on what it takes to remove one). According to the laws passed by the Legislature to ensure your health and safety, if you are under the age of 18, you cannot be tattooed without parental permission.

Perhaps you just want to do something healthy, like ride a bicycle. Or just go for a ride in the car with your parents. Once again, according to state laws to ensure your health and safety, your parents must provide you with a bicycle helmet or buckle you in your seat if you are under a specific age.

Let's say you are at school, you have a headache and want to take an aspirin. Or perhaps you have a prescription from your doctor and you need to take a medication during school hours. According to the laws passed to ensure your health and safety, your parents must provide the school with written permission for you to receive any medication.

Now, if you want to be promiscuous and sleep around with some Tom, Dick or Harry (not a good idea for a variety of reasons), forgetting your health and safety, the Legislature recently passed a bill, signed and celebrated by your governor, that lets your pharmacist provide you with a pill to "wash all your cares away" without even notifying your parents.

Your Legislature passed this law in spite of the fact that the Food and Drug Administration withholds approval of this particular drug for distribution over the counter. Something was so special about the distribution of the abortifacient known as the "emergency contraception pill," or the "morning after pill," that your governor, John Lynch, not only encouraged the passage of the bill, but he attended a victory celebration after he signed the bill into law.

What was so special about this piece of legislation? Why was it so important for the state to remove parental oversight in this matter of health? Why does it deserve such joy and excitement?

You should follow the money trail and ask, who benefits? Could it be a political contribution from the multi-million dollar a year abortion industry? Is this why your governor was so happy to request, encourage and sign this bill into law?

By the way, when you experience the after-affects of taking this "magical" pill, who is responsible to provide you with counseling, supervision, medical or psychological treatment and rehabilitation?

If you have any relationship left with your biological parents, they will probably pick up the ball. But if there is no longer a parent-child relationship, then who is left but the state? And who is the state, but the taxpayer?

Karen Testerman is executive director of Cornerstone Policy Research in Concord.

[mikefam]

in commom law the name at the top o a legal document is paramount.  in NH a birth certificate ia a legal documnt and the name at the top is The State of New Hampshire , so its easy for me to see that childeren belong to the state as i fully understand the ramifcations of these little common law idiosyncricies

[mvpel]

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/counties/alameda_county/12179334.htm

Citing two more deaths, the Food and Drug Administration issued a public health warning Tuesday on the risk of rare but serious infection from use of the RU-486 abortion pill.

It was prompted by reports that a fourth California woman, the first was 18-year-old Holly Patterson of Livermore, who died in September 2003, has died from infection after taking RU-486 and its followup drug, misoprostol.

And yet, somehow, you can't get your ears pierced without parental permission.