Many Granite Staters have seen the recent report at New Hampshire Journal regarding the investigation done by the Department of Education of the New Hampshire school teacher who took a student to have an abortion.
The teacher indicated that he or she called in sick to take the student because she did not have anyone “to support them.” Parents who I have talked with are shocked, and they should be shocked. But should we be shocked really? After all, despite repeated attempts to pass legislation to support parents, legislation has been blocked by Democrats and many in the education establishment.
In the past two years, legislation on parent’s rights has twice been defeated. This year my constitutional amendment that said “parents have a fundamental right and responsibility to direct the upbringing, education, and care of their minor children” did not get sufficient votes in the New Hampshire House to send it to the voters. We have one glimmer of hope, however.
HB 1312 has passed the House and Senate and is headed to the Governor, hopefully, for his signature. I worked on this bill with Representative Kristine Perez of Londonderry who ushered its passage through the legislature.
HB 1312 will be just the first step in making sure that there will be no more incidents of teachers aiding children to get abortions. One part of the bill states: “A school district may not adopt policies, procedures or student support forms that prohibit school district personnel from answering questions from a parent about his or her student’s mental, emotional, or physical health or well-being, sexuality, or a change in related services or monitoring, or that encourage or have the effect of encouraging a student to withhold from a parent such information.”
In other words, if a parent asks, tell them the truth about what is going on with their child in school – no secrets from parents. But requiring parents to be told the truth is just the first step.
Rep. Perez and I have already discussed follow-up legislation (if re-elected) for next year that will provide criminal penalties for any teacher repeating this shameful act of taking a student for an abortion. But we need to go beyond just teachers. We will state that no adult can “traffic” an unemancipated minor child to get an abortion while concealing it from their parents.
This really is not an abortion issue. It is about trafficking children and usurping parent’s rights. This will be a priority for Rep. Perez and myself next year.