Editor, Daily Nexus,

This letter is in response to Allison Cross’s letter (“Minors Unfit to Decide if Abortion is Best Option,” Daily Nexus, Oct. 27). I do not think that anyone would disagree with the point that a minor needs some sort of counseling if they are pregnant, ideally that of a parent. However, it is naive to think that all pregnant women do not tell their parents out of a mere fear of “humiliation.” Some women do grow up in abusive households where telling a parent about a pregnancy could result in her harm. To illustrate, I quote from “Dear Abby” on Oct. 7:

“Several years ago, I worked for Planned Parenthood and we had a young girl…test positive for pregnancy. We urged her to tell her parents, but she kept refusing, insisting, “‘Dad will kill me!'”

Of course, we knew better, and finally convinced her that the best thing was to tell her parents, have the baby and get on with her life.

Her father beat her so badly that she was in the hospital for more than a month. She lost the baby because of the beating…”

Granted, the girl was not asking for an abortion in this case, but it is likely the scene would have played out the same way if she had. Unless the unlikely event transpired that the girl had been removed from her home so she could safely have the baby, an abortion without consent of the parents would have been the least damaging option. My greatest concern is that Proposition 73 does not allow for circumstances such as the above. The measure could lead to minors making wiser decisions, but it could also lead to incidents like the one above or to women seeking back-ally abortions because they have no other option.