NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

      WASHINGTON, DC (CWNews.com) - House Democrats on Wednesday successfully stalled action on a bill designed to protect teens from being taken across state lines for abortions to avoid state parental notification laws.

      House Judiciary Chairman Henry Hyde, R-Illinois, delayed a final committee vote on the bill until next week after Democrats offered numerous amendments, slowing down the process. Supporters of the bill say it will protect thousands of young girls who are taken from their families every year for abortions in other states without regard to their legal protections. They also say the bill will protect parents' rights over how they choose to raise their children.

      Critics of the measure say it could make grandmothers or ministers subject to criminal penalties, but pro-lifers contend that only parents should have the right to make those decisions, if their state has given them the legal protections to do so. The National Right to Life Committee said that under the bill, named the Child Custody Protection Act, "Congress would take a clear stand against a bizarre notion that the US Constitution confers a 'right' upon strangers to take one's minor daughter across state lines for a state abortion."