Parental consent for surgical procedures

Browsing around through the Montana press, Montana Headlines encountered this little piece of hand-wringing from the editors up at the Great Falls Tribune. Their editorial on legislation dealing with parental consent for a minor seeking an abortion does the "on the one hand...on the other hand" dance, and concludes that this is an issue where "reality and common sense collide."

As they note, common sense says that if a girl needs her parents permission to get a nose-ring, why not to get an abortion? Reality for them, however, is summarized in various hypothetical cases, wondering who will help the girl navigate the legal system.

There really is a simple solution to the issue of parental notification. If a surgeon performed a gall-bladder operation or liposuction on a minor without parental permission and there were complications and/or a bad outcome, he would be sued for far more money than had he received the parents' permission before doing the surgery. Failure to obtain permission from an adult would probably be considered evidence in and of itself of negligence.

So, forget legislating parental consent and a complicated bureaucratic system for a girl to negotiate. Just pass legislation specifically stating that in medical malpractice lawsuits against abortion providers in cases involving a minor, failure to obtain permission from a parent is to be treated with the same prejudice that it would be for any other surgical procedure.

Furthermore, pass legislation specifying that malpractice insurance companies are not obligated to pay on malpractice cases involving minors receiving an abortion without parental consent.

Some adult has to take responsibility for the decision, and abortion advocates repeatedly tell us that this should be a decision between a woman (or girl) and her doctor. Logically, then, when a minor seeks an abortion, there is only one adult in the room, and that adult should take full responsibility.

The Missoulian gets it right on rebates for renters

In today's Missoulian, the editors give a common-sense opinion on the the proposals of some lawmakers to give property tax rebates to renters.

They correctly note: "If it's property tax relief, then rebates logically belong to the owners of property." Still left out is the fact that the Democrat plan would restrict tax rebates to homeowners, leaving the owners of rental housing and other commercial property without tax relief, even though they have been paying the same rates. Montana Headlines has discussed this before.

The editors suggest an honest way for proponents to get a piece of the pie: "if they want it, they really ought to campaign for the money to be distributed in some form - say, as some kind of per-capita payment."