Issue Brief: The right to Care for Your Children
Parental Rights
Overview
The Right to Care For Your Children
The responsibility that parents have to care for and direct their children is also a right. They have the right to direct their children’s upbringing in a manner that is consistent with their beliefs. This is a right that has been recognized by the US Supreme Court and has been consistent in finding that parents have a “fundamental right” to “direct the upbringing and education of their children.” It is not the state’s responsibility to prepare children for adulthood, it is their parents
Analysis
Medical Kidnapping
Across the nation, parents are having their children wrongfully taken for not consenting to what they believe is a medical misdiagnosis. This completely undermines the rights of parents and their ability to properly care for their child. When a family in Texas sought to obtain a second medical opinion, their child was taken from them by Child Protective Services (CPS). Lines 7-9 of HB 145 address this concern and ensure the ability of parents to care for their children, maintain custody, and control major decisions that will affect them.
Parental Consent in the Health and Wellbeing of Their Children
Society has always recognized that children need the assistance of their parents to navigate through life. The idea of informed consent is critical in our society and should not be taken for granted. In order to be able to provide consent, both parties must have the mental capacity and proper information to fully understand potential consequences of their decision. This is why minor children have always been represented by their parents for these decisions–to ensure their own safety and well-being. Even in a situation when a minor wants to make changes to their own body, such as piercings or tattoos, parental consent is required. Parental consent is required by the state of Delaware for the use of tanning beds, dental work, to dispense medications, to participate in sports, and to play sports, to just name a few. The requirement of parental consent before a minor or life-altering medical treatment or procedure is administered or performed on a child is reasonable and affirms that children need their parents.
The Undermining of Parents in Education
Parents are the primary educators of their children. Though they may choose to entrust their child to a public school, parents are ultimately responsible for overseeing their children’s education. Schools best serve students when they inform, involve, and respect parents. Parents across the nation are raising concerns about curriculum changes that include explicit sexual acts and content, as well as introducing the transgender ideology throughout all subjects and grades as early as 4-5 years of age. When schools cover such information without permission, do not inform parents in a timely manner, or do not provide the ability for parents to opt their children out, the school knowingly undermines the rights of the parents. Representative Charles Postles introduced HB 145 in the 2019 Legislative Session. HB 145 seeks to affirm the parental right and authority to oversee the education of their children, whether in public, private, or home school settings.
Historic Support for Fundamental Parental Rights
Strong families are the cornerstone of a strong community, and of society as a whole. The Supreme Court has consistently ruled in favor of parental rights, particularly in cases regarding education. The importance of parents’ roles in the lives of their children is supported by history, experience, and statistical data. It is necessary to protect and defend this role. It has also been ruled in cases such as Hodgson v. Minnesota (1990) that parental consent without a clause that allows for judicial bypass is unconstitutional. Line 14-15 of HB 145 still provides that judicial bypass, and thus is consistent with this ruling on constitutionality. The judicial bypass present in Delaware law is what allows minors to have an abortion without parental consent.
By overruling parents and their fundamental right to the care, custody, and control of their children, every child is ultimately at risk. HB 145 seeks to affirm that the responsibility to care for, protect, and raise healthy and prepared children belongs to their parents first. The objective of HB 145 is to preserve and affirm the fundamental rights of parents for the sake of strengthening the family unit as a whole.
Talking Points
- 01. Life begins at conception and abortion prematurely ends a unique human life.
- 02. Babies can begin to feel pain in the womb as early as 7 weeks.
- 03. Delaware Law is currently inconsistent. Late term abortion is legal, yet a child miscarried at 20 weeks is able to have recognition for both their life and death.
- 04. Abortion Disproportionately Affects African-American Communities.
Resources
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