“Some states don’t have any laws about telling your parents or getting their permission. In some states, even with laws that generally require a parent’s permission, you may not have to involve your parents in certain circumstances… Also, if your state does have parental involvement laws, you may be able to get a judge’s permission to have an abortion without telling your parents. This is called ‘judicial bypass.’”

“If you have questions about whether you can get an abortion without involving your parents,” the guide continues, “you can contact the If/When/How Judicial Bypass Helpline by calling 844-868-2812 or submitting a request online.”

“If you’re pregnant and want to have an abortion, contact your nearest Planned Parenthood health center as soon as possible.”

Planned Parenthood’s own website and resources reveal its broader agenda. Planned Parenthood does not merely oppose parental consent laws, but seeks to help minors work around them. By directing minors toward judicial bypass resources and abortion providers that can explain how to avoid parental involvement, Planned Parenthood is promoting a vision where parents are excluded from one of the most consequential decisions of their child’s life, drastically affecting their children’s lives forever.

Adolescents are still developing emotionally, physically, and cognitively. A major decision like abortion involves complex medical, emotional, and spiritual considerations and consequences that minors cannot navigate alone — they need their parents. Planned Parenthood clearly finds something distasteful about a teen leaning on parents for advice and help in an overwhelming situation.

Regardless of one’s views on abortion, few would dispute that choosing abortion is a serious decision with great consequences. Clinics should not be encouraging teen girls to go this path alone. Parents are responsible for guiding their children through difficult decisions every day, from medical care to education to personal safety. It is difficult to understand why abortion should be treated as the one major medical decision where parents are presumed to be the problem rather than part of the solution.

Parental involvement laws exist for a reason. They recognize a simple reality: Minors often lack the maturity, life experience, and emotional development necessary to navigate life-altering decisions entirely on their own. These laws do not exist to punish young women. They exist to ensure that vulnerable girls have the support, protection, and guidance they need during a difficult moment in their lives.

Yet organizations like Planned Parenthood continue to portray parental involvement as an obstacle to overcome. Their messaging assumes that parents are the problem while abortion providers are a trusted source of guidance. Rather than encouraging family support whenever possible, they provide minors with resources designed to help them avoid Americans should be deeply concerned by a system that allows a teenager to receive an abortion without her parents ever knowing, while requiring parental permission for far less significant decisions.

HERE’S WHO IS ON THE GUEST LIST FOR XI’S STATE DINNER

If we truly care about the health and well-being of young women, we should reject policies that isolate them from their families and instead promote policies that encourage parental involvement, support, and responsibility.

No frightened teenage girl should be told that the people who love her most have no place in one of the most consequential decisions she will ever make. If a man coerced a teenager into an abortion clinic, refusing to allow her to tell her parents, encouraging her not to tell them, society would call him manipulative and abusive. Why have we failed to call out Planned Parenthood for that same behavior?