British Mom Fights for Right to Know if Daughters are Considering Abortion 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
October 18, 2004
London, England (LifeNews.com) — A mother in the U.K. is fighting for the right to be informed by abortion businesses should her daughters ever consider having an abortion. Under current law in the European nation, parents are not allowed to be told when their teenage girls are having an abortion.
Sue Axon has filed a lawsuit with the British High Court asking it to review guidelines on parental notification. The mother of two daughters says she had an abortion 20 years ago, regrets her decision, and doesn’t want her daughters to make the same mistake.
The law caused a nationwide controversy earlier this year when a mother complained that her daughter’s school sent her to have a secret abortion.
Days after finding out about the abortion, 14 year-old Melissa Smith’s mother was able to talk her daughter out it. However, it was too late as the abortion drugs had already killed the developing baby.
Axon told British media that parents have a right to know if her daughters Joy, 15, or Amber, 12, would ever consider an abortion.
"I feel that as a mother they have taken away my right to protect my children," she told the BBC. "I am prepared to make a stand and challenge them."
"I want legislation to allow me to be told — not necessarily to stop it — but to be informed at least," Axon added. "Whether you believe in abortion or not, I do not believe any mother would want her daughter to have an abortion without her knowing about it."
Axon said she suffered grief and severe depression following her abortion and she wants to spare her daughters that pain.
A British Department of Health representative told the BBC that it could not comment until the agency had responded to the lawsuit.
Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for the Family Planning Association, said the organization supports the current guidelines.
John Smeaton, national director of the Society For The Protection Of Unborn Children, told a newspaper in Manchester that his group strongly supports Axon’s efforts.
"We are very much behind such a case," Smeaton. "We think it outrageous that children can seek to have an abortion without parental consent."
"Our supporters include many parents, and they will be redoubling their efforts to get schools to adopt policies which do not allow for any referrals for abortion, with or without parental knowledge or consent," Smeaton added.
