This is not an easy question to answer, but it must be answered nonetheless. The problem with parental consent laws is that they often tend to swing both ways. That means that parents who must give consent in order for their kids to be legally able to do something, can also decide for them that it must happen and they have no choice in the matter. I know that many parents make the wrong decisions, and some parents will abuse their children after forcing them to have abortions, or after requiring them to give birth to the child. In the latter case the abuse translates to the newborn child. This is a terrible and sad truth, but it shouldn’t prevent us from allowing loving parents to protect their children who made a mistake from making an even bigger mistake in an attempt to fix it. My wife was forced to have an abortion after she was raped at the age of 17. Her parents signed the consent forms believing they had no choice and my wife had no say in the matter whatsoever. She spent the next 15 years of her life allowing various different men to abuse her largely because she believed it was somehow her fault that the innocent child died. When I met and married her I was horrified to hear the story of her life and have been working very hard to try to bring back her self esteem. I myself have some anger management issues from my upbringing which I am trying to get rid of, and this combination puts a lot of strain on our marriage because I am constantly afraid of becoming the latest in a string of abusers for my wife. I view that as yet another reason to convince her she doesn’t have to put up with that. I would not allow one of my grandchildren to be murdered if I could possibly prevent it, and I would embrace my child with love and tell them it was all going to be okay. Teenagers are more likely to give in to pressure from a boyfriend or other aspects of their life and not think about the long term consequences without parental influence on the decision. We shouldn’t allow that to happen. We must protect our children and grandchildren.