Parental rights have become a major flashpoint in American politics. Democrat Terry McAuliffe’s statement that “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach” cost him dearly in last year’s Virginia gubernatorial race. But Senate Democrats don’t seem to have learned much of a lesson from McAuliffe’s mistake: They recently voted — almost unanimously — in favor a bill that would strike down laws requiring parental consent or parental notification before a minor has an abortion. And that vote could haunt Democratic candidates in November.
Take, for example, the case of Arizona Democratic senator Mark Kelly, who is up for re-election this year in what will likely be one of the most competitive races in the country. When I recently asked Kelly if the bill he voted for, the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA), would invalidate Arizona’s parental-consent law, the Arizona senator told me he didn’t know. “I think that’s something that you could, you know, reach out to the Congressional Research [Service] folks and figure out,” Kelly said. He did, however, express general opposition to parental-consent laws, saying he would not be the “arbiter of an age” at which a minor could choose to have an abortion without her parents’ involvement.
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