[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 11] [Senate] [Page 15345] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]CHILD CUSTODY PROTECTION ACT Mr. ENSIGN. Mr. President, I rise to speak today about the Child Custody Protection Act. A bill the Senate will debate shortly. I believe, as a father of three children, including one daughter, it is a very important piece of legislation. Good people can disagree on issues even of profound moral consequence. Most Americans, even those who consider themselves pro- choice, believe there should be at least some restrictions on abortion. I believe this is one of those situations where we should be able to come together and find some common ground. The Child Custody Protection Act simply states that if an adult willfully takes a minor child across State lines to get an abortion, for the purpose of avoiding a State's parental consent or notification law that would be a Federal crime for that adult. Judicial bypass is an integral part of all effective parental consent laws. So for those concerned about the cases of parental rape or incest and what a child does in that case?--there is a judicial review, a judicial bypass available. The Child Custody Protection Act would only apply in those States parental consent or notification laws in place. This is an important piece of legislation, especially for parents as many of these cases involve a 20-something-year-old male who has impregnated a young teenager, often a 13, 14, 15-year-old girl, which has ended in a secret abortion. Now because your little girl had become pregnant and this 20- something-year-old realized that is a crime of statutory rape, they want to dispose of the evidence. So they decide to talk your little girl into going across State lines for an abortion because your State law requires parental notification or parental consent for such a procedure. They go to the State next door, take care of the abortion, and you, the parent, know nothing about it. How would you feel as a parent in a situation such as that? Even further, abortion is a surgical procedure. Our kids are not even allowed to get an aspirin in school without parental consent. They are not allowed to take a field trip without parental consent. They are not allowed to take sex education classes without parental consent. Yet, remarkably, it is not against the law evade parental consent or notice requirements to take a child across State lines to get a surgical procedure, a surgical abortion. It is time for legislation such as the Child Custody Protection Act. I realize that emotions run high on both sides of the abortion issue. They run deeply and have divided our country for some time. We need to look for a place of common ground. A place where reasonable people should be able to come together and agree to at least have this one restriction on abortion, agree that parents should be involved in the decisions, especially the medical decisions, involving their children. The Child Custody Protection Act does just that. This is legislation where we preserve parent rights, we preserve State rights, and we do something that approximately 80 percent of the American people support. As we debate this bill over the next several days, I hope people will take an honest look at the intent of this legislation. I hope people will not automatically, because the word ``abortion'' is contained in this legislation, say: I can't vote for such a measure because it contains abortion language. I hope people will say: Let's find the common ground. Let's look for things that are reasonable and come together on an issue that should be agreed on to protect our children, our daughters. I yield the floor. ____________________