Lynch Lied....On Parental Notification - Granite Grok

Lynch Lied….On Parental Notification

In a letter to a constituent dated December 1, 2006, Governor Lynch lied on the matter of parental notification (the right of a parent to know if and when their underage daughter tried to obtain an abortion.)

    "Thank you for sharing with me your thoughts on New Hampshire parental notification law.  I share your belief that the health and safety of New Hampshire women, no matter their age, must be our first priority.

     "As Governor, and as a father, I believe parents should be involved in these important decisions.  But we must also recognize that there are cases where that is not possible–and we should not risk the health and safety of young women in those cases."

We might take away from this letter that parents should be involved.  That while there could be Lynch Liedcases, "those cases" where health and safety are perhaps more important and parents cannot be consulted,  that in "all other cases" parents could expect to be involved as long as John Lynch was the governor, because as he says, he is a "Governor and a father".  

But that’s not how it worked out.  As we all know, John Lynch repealed parental notification the very next year.  But not before lying to a constituent about his postion on this important issue.

Governor Lynch’s final statement on the matter was that he could find no circumstance in which parents should be involved.  That every instance of pregnancy, regardless of age, was one of "those cases" where parental notification "is not possible."

It’s no joke that an underage girl needs a note from her parents to take a different bus home from school, or to get an aspirin from the school nurse.  Nor can a minor get a tattoo or have their ears pierced without her parent being present.   In fact the list of things she can’t do are too long to revisit here.  But thanks to John Lynch if she needs an abortion not only do her parents not need to be there, they do not even need to be notified.  They have no role to play at all.

John Lynch said he believed "that parents should be involved" and just a few months later denied them involvement of any kind.

(Update: Click here to see the actual letter)

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