[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 123 (Wednesday, September 16, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S10419]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      CHILD CUSTODY PROTECTION ACT

  Mr. COVERDELL. Mr. President, I rise today in support of S. 1645, the 
Child Custody Protection Act. This bill makes it a federal offense to 
knowingly transport a minor girl across state lines to circumvent her 
home state's parental consent or notification laws and obtain an 
abortion. This bill sends an important message that we will support 
those states that have tried to protect minors from making a decision 
of this magnitude without the involvement of the parents. We should do 
everything we can to ensure that parents are able to exercise the 
responsibilities of guiding and protecting their children, and I 
applaud Senator Abraham for his leadership on this issue.
  A few of my constituents raised some concerns about S. 1645 that I 
would like to address. First, the bill imposes no burden on the right 
to an abortion, and it adds no new provisions or restrictions on state 
laws. S. 1645 is designed merely to preserve the integrity of parental 
involvement laws in states that have chosen to enact them. Second, the 
legislation does not violate the constitutional right to travel. Like 
the recently enacted Deadbeat Parents Punishment Act, the Child Custody 
Protection Act only punishes travel that is undertaken with the intent 
of dodging legitimate state laws. Third, in cases where teenagers are 
afraid to tell their parents, there are judicial bypass procedures to 
address these situations. A study performed by the American Journal of 
Public Health of these bypass procedures found that only 1 out of 477 
girls was denied judicial authorization. Fourth, S. 1645 recognizes the 
role of states in ensuring that legal abortions are safe--to allow 
valid state laws to be avoided is to undermine the safety of the 
procedure and endanger the health of those minors. Fifth, parental 
involvement laws enjoy the support of 74 percent of Americans according 
to a 1996 Gallup poll. While S. 1645 does not alter any state's laws 
regarding abortion, it does ensure that states that do have these 
popular laws have a more realistic chance of enforcing them.

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