Listen to Youth: Adult Allies Must Support the Repeal of Illinois’ Forced Parental Notification Law
May 27, 2014As May comes to a close, so do National Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month campaigns. Some of the conversations this month highlighted the need for comprehensive, age-appropriate health and sexuality education, and to ensure young people have access to contraception.
But sadly, it was also a month filled with messages that judge and shame pregnant and parenting teens and young women who seek abortion.
One place where the tension between supporting and shaming really comes through is in my home state of Illinois. The issues of young people, sex, pregnancy, parenting, and abortion have been heating up in recent years due to a fight around the implementation of the forced parental notification law.