The slippery slope of eroding parents’ rights

By Jennifer Bioche

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Texas and, most recently, California parents have lost big time, and we should all take notice. Slowly but surely, the health care establishment with the help of the government is eroding one of society's most precious assets: parental authority.

In Texas, Gov. Rick Perry mandated the HPV vaccine for underage girls.

And just last weekend, California Gov. Jerry Brown passed a bill saying the same vaccine can be made available to girls, 12 and older, without parental consent.

In the case of California, some argue that children from broken homes don't have a reliable parent to concur with, but the discussion shouldn't stop there, nor be the model for state law. It is unimaginably irresponsible to create policy that removes parents from one of their basic duties: helping their child to grow up healthy.

Sadly, this kind of law isn't new.

It began in some part with abortion allowed without parental consent. And the slope is getting slipperier.

Michael Ramey is communications director for Virginia-based ParentalRights.org, a group that advocates for parents on national and international matters. He told me: “The tradition of America was that the rights of the child were held in trust by the parents. Therefore, parents are the legal representatives to protect the child's best interest. Now the mentality is that the government is protecting the child. But they don't need to protect the child from fit parents.”

The notion of parental authority going away can begin with the smallest step.

According to Iowa State Code, 22.7 Section 13, a minor can check out material from a public library and the parent, who is financially responsible for the account, cannot access the child's account. The code mentions “individual privacy.”

I'm not arguing that children checking out material from our libraries is a huge issue. A quick call to Marion Library Director Doug Raber assured me that they want to respect parents.

But Iowa law doesn't reflect this, easy as it would be to make a parental access clause part of the code.

Once on the books, laws removing parents from their children's transactions can have huge ramifications. In the matter of the vaccine, it means having a child alone decide what's best for his or her long-term future, a responsibility the child isn't equipped to manage.

A few years ago, I took my two oldest children, ages 5 and 3, to the pediatrician's office for a well check. A nurse took out a clip board, and started firing away at me. “Do you own a gun? Does your home have a second floor? If so, does that level have windows that lock?”

Being a younger, less experienced mother, I tried to respond politely.

Later, I reflected on the experience and asked myself: “Do they think I'm the bad guy?” And now the answer is evolving into “yes, they do.”

Texas and California seem far from Iowa, but parents here could be well served to take note.

Parental rights can be snatched away on short notice. And recovery, while possible, is a long, dreary road. As parents, we work hard to baby-proof our homes and teach our children stranger danger.

Now it seems as if the real intruder can be the very people we elect to keep us free, or pay to keep us well.

Jennifer Bioche of Marion is a freelance writer and mother of four. Contact jbioche@yahoo.com.