Abortion workers: We easily avoided parental notification and consent laws

Pro-life activists frequently try to pass parental notification and consent laws protecting young pregnant women from the abortion industry. A teenage girl who goes to Planned Parenthood or another abortion facility may not have the maturity to resist the pressure and “sales pitch” of trained abortion workers, and often, abortion workers lie to or pressure teens.

Carolyn Kasdorf, a pregnant teenager, went to Planned Parenthood, unsure about whether to get an abortion. While there, she asked the abortion “counselor,” “Is it a baby?” Years later, Kasdorf recalls the abortion worker’s answer: “No, it’s not a baby,” she was told. “It’s just cartilage like your ear. It’s a blob of tissue.”

Kasdorf went through with the abortion and later deeply regretted it. If she had been told about fetal development, she would have known she was being lied to:

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Former Planned Parenthood worker Lavonne Wilenken explained how workers at her abortion facility convinced pregnant teens to go through with their abortions:

Because teens are subjected to this type of pressure, laws have been passed requiring parental notification or consent before an abortion, to ensure that the teenagers’ parents can give them proper guidance.

There are many good reasons for these laws. A teenager may not know to tell the abortion facility if she has a medical condition that might make an abortion more dangerous. If the teen develops an infection or post-abortion complication, she may not seek treatment if she is hiding the abortion from her parents. Keeping abortion complications secret can lead to permanent injury or death. And there are many potential complications:

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Also, if a teen is suffering emotionally after abortion, her parents wouldn’t know about her abortion. Teen girls are ten times more likely to commit suicide after an abortion, and parents may not know to look for warning signs. These laws are passed for the benefit of teens’ emotional and physical health.

Sadly, abortion facility workers have found ways around such laws. Three former abortion workers have described how they violated or evaded parental consent and notification laws. Margo (last name not given), Annette Lancaster, and Abby Johnson all told their stories in webcasts sponsored by And Then There Were None, an organization founded by Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood director. ATTWN encourages abortion providers to leave the abortion industry and provides healing retreats for the workers. If the workers are willing, ATTWN helps them tell their stories. The group’s videos and webcasts reveal abortion industry secrets.

In the most recent webcast, Annette Lancaster, former North Carolina Planned Parenthood director, revealed how children as young as 10 were able to get abortions without their parents’ knowledge:

The judicial bypass option, made mandatory by the Supreme Court, is a loophole that allows most teens to get abortions without their parent’s consent. In every state that mandates parental notification, there is a judicial bypass clause.

Abby Johnson explains how judges would rubberstamp teens’ judicial bypass requests for abortions:

Margo, who worked at a late-term abortion facility, says:

This was how abortion workers evaded parental consent laws. They had another way of violating parental notification laws. Abby Johnson explains:

Apparently, no one is policing abortion clinics to make sure they are complying with parental notification laws. They were able to set up a fake system which allowed them to break the law with impunity. It’s unknown how many abortion facilities used this trick to avoid parental notification laws, but if Johnson, once a director in touch with a massive network of fellow workers, knew this tactic, it’s likely other abortion workers did too. At the very least, the tactic could be widespread at Planned Parenthood.

Because of a legal loophole — and sometimes by plain, old-fashioned, dishonesty — teenagers are not protected.