With the withdrawal of the draft Organic Law on the Protection of the Conceived and the Rights of the Pregnant Woman, which had become so unpopular; the president of the Government has announced a modification of the current regulations so that those under 16 and 17 are required to receive parental consent before interrupting your pregnancy.
The age threshold is marked by the fact that in health matters, from the age of 16, the minor is already “of age”, therefore has autonomy to make decisions without another person having to intervene. This happens except in some cases as assisted reproduction techniques or organ transplantation. Given the intention of making modifications to the current abortion law so that the parents of the girls must authorize such intervention, I can only rejoice.
I am not going to tell you (now even less) what I thought about the draft, whose withdrawal has led to the resignation of the Minister of Justice, but I do not like that people who legally cannot vote or drive may have the right to terminate their pregnancy without parental authorization.
I like even less to skip the role of parents, who are the ones who support those children who although biologically they are practically adults, they still depend on their parents (not all, I know) to eat, dress or study. In addition, dad and mom have every right in the world to also know what the intervention is, what risks it entails, etc. They also have the right to have doubts and to refuse, in which case the family must rethink everything, obviously; and here the role of society in the face of pregnant adolescents is more than debatable.
It is clear that there is still a lot of sex education quality, and that in all cases there will be no ideal family communication, which allows to address decisions about a teenage pregnancy, in the most suitable way possible. But we must tend to that: good information (not only contraceptive methods) and a health network that allows to advise the family of a minor (the whole family) who has become pregnant.
The issue of the majority of health age reminds me of the controversy that arose in the United Kingdom, when a series of schools injected contraceptives to girls between 13 and 16 years of age, just in case. They didn't communicate it to parents, imagine how they denied paper (authority too) of the parents.
That children have sexuality we have it clear, that in adolescence (at some point in it) many begin in the first relationships, too. Here what we should talk about (and I think we should expand later) is what teenagers feel that they have sentimental relationships, how to lead them to a healthy sexuality in which there are no situations of domination (for example). And of course, you should also educate in pregnancy prevention, but is that "prevention", as well as dry, separated from values and a change in attitudes, serves little good.
By the way, Mariano Rajoy has announced before the end of the year, the approval of a Family Support Plan. We will be attentive, to see what it consists of, and in what terms it is written.
In Peques and More | Bethlehem: 11-year-old Chilean pregnant ... how do you discuss abortion in your country but not about sexual abuse? Raising the minimum age of sexual consent: a protection measure for minors
