The Child Custody Protection Act with its sentence of up to one year in prison makes GOP top ten issues list for new session, making it likely to pass.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&ncid=716&e=7&u=/ap/20050130/ap_on_re_us/teen_abortionsBill Aims to Curb Out-of-State Abortions (by a few thoudand teens)
By DAVID CRARY, AP National Writer
NEW YORK - The abortion bill most likely to become federal law this year would affect a relatively small number of pregnant teens, yet its impact on them could be dramatic — sharply reducing the options for girls in many states who dread telling their parents of their plight.
Supporters and opponents each offer vivid worst-case scenarios in debating the bill, which was included this week in the Senate Republicans' priority list. It would outlaw transporting a minor across state lines to obtain an abortion in order to evade parental consent or notification laws in the girl's home state.
The bill's advocates evoke the image of a girl being impregnated by an abusive older man who then drives her to an out-of-state abortion clinic so the girl's parents and the authorities won't find out about a relationship that might have been illegal because of age differences.
Opponents of the bill say it would criminalize the well-meaning acts of an aunt, older sister or other confidante who assist a girl terrified of being beaten or evicted from home if her parents learned of the pregnancy. <snip>
In 2000, the latest year with national statistics, about 92,000 girls 17 and under obtained legal abortions — 7 percent of the U.S. total. Many of those teens were from states that don't require parental involvement, including populous California, New York and Illinois, while many of the girls in states with the laws notified their parents rather than traveling secretly out-of-state.
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