Senator Ashley Moody has introduced the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act ahead of the annual March for Life. The bill would make it a crime to transport minors across state lines for abortions without parental consent, with support from Senators Bill Cassidy, Kevin Cramer, Jim Risch, Steve Daines, John Kennedy, Deb Fischer, James Lankford, and Pete Ricketts, according to the Office of the Senator.
Moody and the supporting senators emphasize the need for parents to be involved in major medical decisions for their children. Senator Bill Cassidy said, "We cannot allow sex traffickers and child abusers to circumvent states’ parental notification laws by crossing state lines to conceal an abortion from a child’s parents," reflecting the bill’s goal of protecting minors and respecting parental authority, as reported by the Office of the Senator.
The Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act, per a press release on Senator Moody's website, has received endorsements from groups such as National Right to Life, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, and March for Life Action. Carol Tobias, President of National Right to Life, said, "Parents have a right to be involved in the life-altering decisions of their minor daughters—especially decisions as serious and irreversible as abortion." The bill would create a legal framework for parental involvement and protect minors from potentially exploitative adults. Critics have raised concerns that it could make it harder for minors to access abortion services and affect their autonomy, as stated by the Office of the Senator.
