Across the nation parents cringed at the recent news that a 15-year-old girl had an abortion, facilitated by her high school, without her parent's knowledge. Especially outraged were those who value the family and the concept that parents, not public institutions, should be the primary source of guidance for their children. What people may not know is that in many states, including California, this practice is legal.

Whether abortion exercises the personal physical rights of women or is simply the deliberate taking of a child's life as a matter of convenience, the issue is contentious and emotional. Either way, abortion is the legal termination an unwanted child. However, it should not be legal to promote and facilitate abortion to girls under the age of 18 without parental or family adult notification.

At Ballard High School in Seattle, a student took a pregnancy test at the campus health center. After confirming that she was pregnant, the school provided a pass from class and a taxi ride to a nearby abortion clinic. They informed her that as long as she did not tell her parents, the abortion would be free. Some reports indicate that, after the abortion, she returned to school to finish out her day. The girl's mother had signed a required school health form that she thought gave permission to treat an emergency, or perhaps an upset stomach. She did not realize that the clause, "youth may access reproductive health care at any age" included abortion.

It is a clear indication of moral and cultural decline that the actions of the high school were legal and by many considered appropriate. The law in Washington provides that, "Minors may receive an abortion and abortion-related services at any age without the consent of a parent, guardian or the father of the child." At any age includes fifth-graders.

According to the Guttmacher Institute, 34 states require some type of parental involvement in a minor's decision to have an abortion. Twenty-two states require one or both parents to consent to the procedure, while 10 require that one or both parents be notified and four states require both parental consent and notification.

In California, legislation to require even parental notification has been repeatedly defeated. The only requirement is that a licensed physician performs the abortion, generally paid for with public funds. It's 11:30 a.m. on a school day. Do you know where your daughter is?

At one point, Planned Parenthood sold "I had an abortion" T-shirts on its Web page, and in 2008 the Planned Parenthood in Indiana sold "gift certificates" that could, in addition to other services, be used for abortions. What's next? Buy one, get one free?

For some, abortion is a heavily weighed decision. However, when it becomes something to fit in between math and biology class or viewed as simply a means to excise "unwanted tissue," the event carries less weight than the slapping of a mosquito at a barbecue.

Proponents of casual abortion argue that parental consent laws encourage "back alley" abortions, runaways and abandoned newborns. They say that any girl old enough to get pregnant is old enough to make the decision to abort. On the other hand, Planned Parenthood has been caught in sting operations agreeing to provide abortions to victims of statutory rape and incest without reporting those events, leaving girls vulnerable to further abuse.

There are legal and medical reasons why no child should undergo an abortion without notifying a family member first. Parents are legally responsible for the well-being of their children up until the age of 18. An abortion is not an inconsequential "scrape"; it is surgery with inherent risks, and there are many cases where minors have suffered major complications, some resulting in death, because they hid their postabortion symptoms.

There are emotional and ethical reasons as well. There are long-term psychological effects such as depression, low self-esteem, grief and an acute sense of loss after an abortion. Ethically, even for those with pro-choice views, the decision whether to abort belongs not to government-funded institutions underwriting abortion clinics and taxi drivers but to the family - which is becoming more and more disenfranchised by liberal interest groups and over-reaching government policies.