Piercings and abortion: parental consent

26 Jun 2014 Piercings and abortion: parental consent

“We’re quite outraged that all of this happened — and shocked it was that easy.”

The above statement was said by a father in Winnipeg (read article here). Do you think he was talking about abortion? No, he was talking about a belly button piercing. This Winnipeg couple is angry that their 16 year old daughter was able to obtain a piercing without their consent and, we believe, rightly so.

The teenager’s father goes on to say “We’re not mad at our daughter. We trust and believe this was a 16-year-old who made a decision. We wanted to be there to help make that decision.”

That is what parenting is about, it’s about helping our children make decisions because they have been entrusted to our care and as parents or legal guardians, we have the responsibility to help them make decisions – whether about a body piercing, or a life-altering decision such as an abortion procedure.

We believe that a parent is in the best position to support their child when facing an unplanned pregnancy and if children are having abortions and being counseled on how keep it a secret from their parents, how do we expect parents to carry out their responsibilities to love, nurture and protect their children?

For more information about our Parental Consent campaign, currently running in Saskatchewan, please visit sk.parentalconsent.ca