Virginia’s Schizophrenic Approach to Age
Remember Del. Ibraheem Samirah? He’s the knucklehead from Fairfax County who heckled the president last summer at the Jamestown celebration and had to be removed by Capitol police.
This Democrat has been busy scribbling important new laws and pre-filing them for the next session of the General Assembly.
He’s apparently joined the wacky age-is-just-a-number wing of the Democratic party with this gem: HB 38, a piece of legislation that would make it illegal for anyone under the age of 18 to use tanning devices at tanning salons.
Under current Virginia law, anyone younger than 15 has to provide written permission from a parent or guardian to begin the process of premature aging of their skin. Now they will be forced to remain pale and wrinkle-free until they turn 18.
Not a bad idea, when taken by itself.
However, Samirah’s bill is a sign of the schizophrenic thinking of the American left. When it comes to vices like drinking, smoking, tattoos and tanning, the government wants to rigorously regulate activities according to age.
But when it comes to abortions, anything goes.
With the introduction of SB 21 - which I wrote about several weeks ago - far-left Democrats are trying to repeal Virginia’s parental (or failing that, judicial) consent law.
Samirah’s party is determined to allow teens and pre-teens to obtain abortions without their parents’ or a judge’s approval or knowledge, yet they want to make it illegal for these same kids to get a tan out of season.
Look, tanning salons are bad. For all ages. You know the old saying, “Tanning is the process of turning skin into leather,” well, that’s what tanning devices do. They ruin skin and contribute to skin cancer.
Still, the damage from lounging around on sun beds is nothing compared to what happens in an abortion, where complications can be deadly. Come to think of it, abortions are always deadly for one party. Many girls suffer from depression after having an abortion.
It’s unthinkable that young teens would be allowed to undergo such a traumatic procedure without a parent even knowing.
Oh, do me a favor and don’t make the same repulsive argument that a reader offered several weeks ago when I first reported on SB 21.
“How do you expect a young girl to get permission from a parent if it’s her father who got her pregnant?” she demanded.
Last time I checked, rape and incest were serious crimes in Virginia. I’m surprised that supporters of abortion need to be reminded that when the state makes it easy for young girls to secure no-questions-asked abortions, it guarantees that many rapists and child molesters will never be prosecuted.
One of many unintended consequences of this agenda-driven lawmaking.
