Pro-Abortion Leader in Ohio Suggests Activists Should ‘Work On’ Eliminating Parental Consent Laws

The executive director of Pro-Choice Ohio recently told the Cincinnati Enquirer that pro-abortion activists in the state should “work on” eliminating parental consent laws around abortion, particularly for minors who are victims of incest or abuse.

The comments from Kellie Copeland, a longtime pro-abortion activist, come months before Ohioans will vote on a November ballot measure that would effectively outlaw any restrictions on abortion and other procedures that involve reproduction, including gender-transition surgeries. The amendment would also effectively remove parental consent and notification requirements for minors who receive the procedures.

Until now, activists behind the ballot measure have rejected claims that they are seeking to remove parental consent laws. “There is absolutely nothing in the amendment that mentions or supersedes Ohio’s parental consent laws,” Dr. Lauren Beene, executive director of Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights, said in April.

The amendment includes vague language about prohibiting any law that “directly or indirectly” would “burden” or “interfere” with “reproductive decisions.” Opponents of the measure argue it would also outlaw nearly any restrictions on abortion or other reproduction-related procedures, removing requirements for parental consent and parental notification, as well as protections for people who undergo the procedures, including requirements that a qualified physician perform them.

Opponents warn the overly broad use of the phrase “reproductive decisions” would mean the measure would very likely extend to gender-transition treatment. The proposal does not distinguish between minors and adults, either.

The Cincinnati Enquirer article acknowledges that the Ohio constitution “would supersede state law, where most abortion policy is written.”

Copeland, meanwhile, told the outlet that activists will need to deal with parental consent.

“I do have concerns about what we can do for minors who are in those situations where they cannot safely involve their parents,” she said. “I think that’s something really important, and something that we should work on.”

She went on to suggest that most minors talk to their parents about abortion.

“The ones who don’t are often ones who cannot safely do that, and I am always concerned that those people can find a way to safely access care when they need to,” she said, adding that while children in abusive situations can ask a judge for approval to have an abortion without parental consent, it is “extremely difficult” for minors to exercise that option.

Amy Natoce, press secretary for Protection Women Ohio, which has been leading the opposition to the ballot measure, said in a statement that supporters of the measure “are finally admitting what we have been saying all along: that this amendment is an anti-parent trojan horse.”

“Issue 1 would wipe away existing and future parental involvement laws, cutting parents out of some of the most important and life-altering decisions affecting their child,” Natoce said. “Not only that but the proposed amendment outlaws any protections for women and unborn children, even through the ninth month of pregnancy. This amendment is way too extreme for Ohio.”

The proposed amendment was written by the ACLU, which has spent years fighting to remove parental involvement from abortion and gender-transition procedures. The group says on its website that parental consent and notification laws restrict “teenagers’ access to abortion.” In 2016, the ACLU sided with Planned Parenthood in an Alaska lawsuit that aimed to overturn parental notification laws in the state. One year later, the ACLU argued that parental consent laws in Indiana created an “unconstitutional undue burden.” The group is currently campaigning for a constitutional amendment in Oregon that would allow children to get an abortion without parental knowledge.

ACLU of Ohio attorney Jessie Hill was straightforward with reporters about the Ohio proposal’s intent, saying it would “mean that laws that conflict with it cannot be enforced, should not be enforced,” including existing laws on parental consent.

In Michigan, where voters approved a pro-abortion ballot passed last year, activists are pushing to eliminate the parental consent requirement. “To remove the burdens placed on young people who need access to reproductive health care, we must repeal Michigan’s outdated parental consent law,” activists argue.

On the other hand, a proposed ballot measure in Florida explicitly states it would not alter the “Legislature’s constitutional authority to require notification to a parent or guardian before a minor has an abortion.”