http://www.wral.com/teen-medical-ban-heads-to-house-floor/12421471/

House Bill 693 would require notarized written approval from a parent before a doctor or other provider could diagnose, treat or even counsel anyone under 18 for mental health or substance abuse. Parental approval would also be required for contraception, pregnancy care and testing for sexually transmitted diseases.

North Carolina would be the only state in the nation to require parental consent for STD testing.

Sponsor Rep. Chris Whitmire, R-Transylvania, says the bill "strengthens parental rights in their determination of what's appropriate in terms of their child's medical needs."

Whitmire said that, if a minor needs mental health, substance abuse, STD or contraceptive care, "it reflects a risky behavior that goes down a primrose path that yields these outcomes. It's very behavioral related."





I thought the GOP didn't want government coming between a patient and their doctor. What happened there?

[Edited on May 8, 2013 at 8:24 AM. Reason : .]

5/8/2013 8:23:24 AM

there's a part of me that hopes this will be the straw that breaks the camels back

but there's a bigger part of me that knows this is only the beginning

absolutely disgusting

5/8/2013 8:37:07 AM

Quote :

"R-Transylvania"

At first I thought this was some clever joke about how much of a monster this guy is....but then I had a sad.

5/8/2013 8:45:18 AM

holy balls this is stupid.

5/8/2013 8:53:53 AM

It became necessary to destroy it in order to save it.

[Edited on May 8, 2013 at 9:09 AM. Reason : ]

5/8/2013 9:08:52 AM

jackiechanwatface.png

5/8/2013 9:13:17 AM

notarized permission slip? we don't need a notarized permission slip. you're thinking like a don't-er, you need to be a do-er.

5/8/2013 9:19:08 AM

wow

What a fucking clown

5/8/2013 9:31:48 AM

Holy shit.

5/8/2013 9:41:10 AM

Did any republicans vote against this? Was its passage just a power play? Is their some hidden rider?

Maybe the intention was to corral people into seeking religious help for those problems? My mind is boggled once again...

5/8/2013 9:43:53 AM

I notice the GOP tends to be pretty full-tilt willing to grant tyrannical power of parents over teenagers, or just make life difficult for that age group in general.

When you look at the broader population, however, I'm not entirely sure the GOP is out of touch. I think there's plenty of people who would more-or-less be happy to see all economic and personal freedoms of minors be contingent on being granted by parents.

It's one of those issues where I'm always surprised by the extremity of the public. Just think about every time the senate held discussion over violent video games, or rap lyrics.

A lot of people, and particularly the people who watch TV, implicitly want the government's power to be ready to prevent the decay of society. I've put a lot of mental effort into understanding this view of government... and I think it's over-thinking it. The voters who endorse draconian laws in the name of minors aren't thinking "government". No, government is the furthest thing from their mind. It's intentionally omitted by politicians who know how to talk. It's just the issue.

Someone out there reads about this bill and thinks "minors having sex". If you can keep the attention focused on that... it works. Think about it. This bill is addressing minors having sex without the consent of their parents. The action in that sentence sounds bad, no?

Look at the quotes

Quote :

"Whitmire said that, if a minor needs mental health, substance abuse, STD or contraceptive care, "it reflects a risky behavior that goes down a primrose path that yields these outcomes. It's very behavioral related." "We make (teens) wait till they're 18 to buy cigarettes, 21 to buy alcohol," Whitmire told the committee. "With the particular items that are very serious, that threaten their health, they certainly need a parental figure.""

from the comments:

Quote :

"You misunderstand what a nanny state is. In fact, this bill is undoing some of the Nanny state and the government intrusion on parents."

It's so philosophical! It's liberals who are individualists. Conservatives want group responsibility, not individual responsibility. It's kind of hard to tell who is more corporate. If an individual-service provider relationship is important, then that kind of reflects a corporatist view on the liberals part.

5/8/2013 9:44:26 AM

I don't see the connection with healthcare and are limits of cigarettes. Are kids going to not get depressed just because they need their parents notarized signature to get healthcare?

Can't believe this bill made it out of committee.

Seriously bewildered by the quote of the guy saying this undos the nanny state. Wow.

5/8/2013 9:55:12 AM

Well the idea is that allowing them tools to have safe sex is allowing them to have sex.

You then protest "but then they'll have unsafe sex". But that's because you don't understand. See, the Republicans aren't endorsing safe or unsafe sex, they're not endorsing either. It's not about safe vs unsafe, it's about sex vs no sex. Just close your eyes and repeat to yourself "abstinence" 3 times.

In that way, it's like cigarettes.

5/8/2013 10:02:13 AM

Seems like now kids just won't go get tested and probably spread more disease, right?

[Edited on May 8, 2013 at 10:09 AM. Reason : Oops, didn't mean to post in tsb]

5/8/2013 10:07:12 AM

Well, yeah

That's why its imperative that abstinence only sex ed is implemented. Then kids won't have sex.

[Edited on May 8, 2013 at 10:09 AM. Reason : .]

5/8/2013 10:07:56 AM

these shits make my head hurt

5/8/2013 10:12:05 AM

Children aren't property. If a person (adult or not) knows enough to go a doctor, then they should be able to see a doctor. No one should be required to get permission to take care of their health which will, of course, carry over into their adult life.

[Edited on May 8, 2013 at 10:13 AM. Reason : ]

5/8/2013 10:12:50 AM

What about plastic surgery?

5/8/2013 10:14:00 AM

I don't think it belongs in the same debate (plastic surgery isn't typically done for health reasons), but I'm not willing to prohibit 16 year olds from getting plastic surgery, no.

5/8/2013 10:21:34 AM

Yeah, not really that relevant to this, or even meaningful, considering most kids wouldn't be able to afford it as insurance wouldn't cover it, but just wanted to see how you'd answer.

5/8/2013 10:49:52 AM

This is what you voted for

5/8/2013 11:12:07 AM

Except that probably no one here voted for the representatives churning out these laws. Some stupid rednecks in another part of the state voted for them.

5/8/2013 11:14:56 AM

I'm pretty sure wdprice3 said he voted Republican and now regrets it and from the bullshit mrfrog has been spouting lately I wouldn't be surprised if he did either. I'm sure there are others too. You probably voted L or didn't vote at all. Are you happy with your decision? Is this the tyranny of which you love to speak?

5/8/2013 11:27:55 AM

You get that you don't just check a box next to "Republican" on the ballot and effectively vote for/endorse every Republican politician in the U.S. or the state, right? I'm not going to check every sponsor on this bill, but there's a high chance that these are all Republican representatives from rural districts.

That's part of the problem with our system. We're in an urban, "enlightened" area for the most part. These rural areas are a different culture entirely, and yet we may be required to obey these laws if there's enough support. A Republican from Wake County could never get away supporting this kind of stupid shit.

Edit: Or not - http://ncleg.net/gascripts/members/viewMember.pl?sChamber=H&nUserID=651

Alright, which one of you assholes voted for this guy!?

[Edited on May 8, 2013 at 11:38 AM. Reason : ]

5/8/2013 11:34:45 AM

Republicans have a fairly uniform standard platform nationally. Since their agenda basically comes directly from ALEC, a Republican in Washington state has the same platform as one from Winston-Salem. It doesn't matter where they come from. You're voting for the same candidate.

5/8/2013 11:39:31 AM

^This is what Democrats actually believe.

5/8/2013 11:44:11 AM

whats incorrect about that?

5/8/2013 11:59:32 AM

this partisan hack arfamr1007 been spouting nonsensical right-wing jibberish on golo for years now. here's his take on the bill

Quote :

"I wasn't aware that young teens were now considered adults. I know liberals like the idea of single teen dropout moms because it keeps their voter base strong...but us responsible adults understand that children are not prepared to make medical decisions"

Quote :

"Teens are not adults and should not be able to make medical decisions. Sorry liberals...get in the back seat and shut up while we fix this broken state"

5/8/2013 12:31:04 PM

^
Ugh. Please don't repost those here anymore.

5/8/2013 12:38:33 PM

Why? I'm curious what kind of people would support such a bill.

5/8/2013 12:41:26 PM

that statement is really not any different than an aaronburro statement

5/8/2013 12:47:39 PM

(actually, i was waiting to see if he'd voice support for those "views")

5/8/2013 12:56:49 PM

Quote :

"and from the bullshit mrfrog has been spouting lately I wouldn't be surprised if he did either. I'm sure there are others too. You probably voted L or didn't vote at all. Are you happy with your decision? Is this the tyranny of which you love to speak?"

You want to know what's really happening? Here, look at the numbers:

http://www.ncsbe.gov/items.aspx?id=1&s=1



Holy shit man. Look at that - nearly a 10% of voters changing to independent in a decade. Now honestly, who here thinks that Democrats are not full of bullshit?

I try to avoid false equivalency. The Dems have seen some support for me, in a much higher portion than Rs. But they don't represent me either way, the system is broken. My support for Libertarians is 10% policy positions and 90% to support someone who has good motivation to oppose how we vote. Here's the real bull shit behind our elections:



The plurality vote produces idiots. It can hardly be said to be a democracy. The voting of people in TSB matters far far less than the average person because our job and moving choices land us all in blue-swamped districts anyway.

The guy we're talking about who proposed the bill, btw, won in a landslide in a district that surely none of us belong to.

http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Chris_Whitmire

This is a guy who represents the combination of the will of the people there and our election system.

5/8/2013 12:59:48 PM

I didn't read the whole bill, but let me play devil's advocate here...

Could this just be a poorly attempt to implement a mechanism that will prevent teenagers from getting mental treatment, std treatment, etc without their parents knowing?

Because I would most definitely want to know, and think I should have a right to know as a parent, if my child needs or is getting therapy, or treatment for STD's. Or any medical help for that matter...there should be no reason why my child should be able to do those things without me knowing about it.

5/8/2013 12:59:51 PM

Quote :

"Could this just be a poorly attempt to implement a mechanism that will prevent teenagers from getting mental treatment, std treatment, etc without their parents knowing?"

well yeah, of course. but it will definitely lead to teens just not getting treatment, because many teens don't talk to their parents about such things. i didn't.

5/8/2013 1:06:05 PM

maybe because it could be embarrassing for some teenagers to talk to their parents about these things and they would prefer to talk to a professional, who they can trust 100%, for the help they need?

I'm not a teenager anymore, but when I was, there was no chance of me talking to my parents about my sex life and things related to it

[Edited on May 8, 2013 at 1:08 PM. Reason : it's damn healthy to have a private life and not have extremely overbearing parents ]

5/8/2013 1:07:06 PM

Unless you started having sex at 18, then your parents should've known about it. As mine should've known. They would have more than likely be financially responsible for your actions...maybe you didn't screw up but there are a lot of teens that do. Its something they should know, imho. Hey I'm not above that either, I put my parents at the same risk.

If you had a child would you not want to know if he/she needs therapy? Or if they're having sex?

5/8/2013 1:13:53 PM

I feel like I want to know everything about my son but understand that I don't have the right to know everything. I think if a child needs medical treatment and they don't feel comfortable talking to their parents about it, for whatever reason, they should still be able to get that treatment.

5/8/2013 1:21:32 PM

no, I wouldn't

because I remember being a teenager

5/8/2013 1:22:30 PM

yeah, it would be great if kids talked to their parents about everything and every parent was involved enough to notice and ask questions. do you think that is realistic, and that we should use the government to mandate it? if so, then this bill doesn't go nearly far enough. to start with, condoms should really be moved behind the counter so that they are required to have a notarized permission slip to purchase them. and really all medicine, my child should not be allowed to by tylenol without my permission. and we really want to know when our daughter becomes a woman so we can make sure that she knows about sex and how her body is going to change, so i would hope that we can move feminine hygeine products behind the counter and take dispensers out of public bathrooms. also, its pretty disgusting that all this information is available on the internet, we need the government to require that ISP's get a notarized permission slip before allowing minors onto the internet.

5/8/2013 1:26:06 PM

^^exactly.

do you really expect your children to tell you every aspect of their life? do you remember being a teenager?

and do you realize that some kids' parents are stupid? or crazy? or absent?

[Edited on May 8, 2013 at 1:27 PM. Reason : ]

5/8/2013 1:26:35 PM

Hell, this is North Carolina people. There are people in this state that would kick their kids out of the house if they found out they had sex.

5/8/2013 1:56:12 PM

Quote :

"Unless you started having sex at 18, then your parents should've known about it. As mine should've known."

It's simultaneously held that:
- kids have an obligation to tell their parents when they have sex
- lol, no way in hell a kid is going to do that!

This system of expectations is mind-boggling. From a public governance perspective, does it make any difference what minors should do? If anything, I'd bet teenagers are having much more sex today than what teenagers used to. The above form of logic argues to fight the trend (I think). Oh boy, we were all out of control in my day, but I know that was bad so we'll not let those mistakes repeat.

It's a crazy expectation. Seriously crazy. Society is not getting more Victorian. You can't change that.

5/8/2013 2:01:14 PM

Yes, because teens in abusive relationships with their parents really should be forced to get their consent for treatment due to that abuse.

How fucking stupid can our state get? I honestly thought tearing pages out of health books was rock bottom back when W was President. I have to hand it to Republicans for digging deeper.

5/8/2013 2:05:52 PM

This is probably the worst piece of legislation i've ever heard about in the past few years of following politics.

5/8/2013 2:52:22 PM

Quote :

"The guy we're talking about who proposed the bill, btw, won in a landslide in a district that surely none of us belong to."

Yeah I have no clue where Transylvania even is. Didn't know we had one in this state

5/8/2013 3:24:29 PM

its in the mountains

[Edited on May 8, 2013 at 4:08 PM. Reason : i have friends from there]

5/8/2013 4:08:33 PM

My friend got married near there.

5/8/2013 5:03:45 PM

[Edited on May 8, 2013 at 5:18 PM. Reason : Brevard is the county seat-]

5/8/2013 5:18:00 PM

Quote :

"If you had a child would you not want to know if he/she needs therapy? Or if they're having sex?"

Of course I would. But I would continue to want to know after 18 also. So I fail to see the relevance.

5/8/2013 5:35:53 PM