'A minor cannot get a tattoo without parental consent but can get an abortion without parental consent.
Teenagers getting inked is apparently subject to greater parental say than getting an abortion, according to U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio. In an Aug. 4 interview with Southern Baptist Convention President Russell Moore, Rubio joined other Republicans in criticizing Planned Parenthood amid the release of videos by an anti-abortion group that accuse the group of harvesting fetal tissue for profit. A day earlier, Florida's Republican senator had been among those who voted to defund Planned Parenthood, a measure that failed to get the required 60 votes to advance. In his interview, Rubio raised concerns about nationwide access to abortions for minors: 'The idea that a minor can go get a tattoo,' he said, before quickly correcting himself to say 'cannot get a tattoo without parental consent -- but can get an abortion without parental consent -- is just mind-shattering for the vast majority of Americans. ... People who believe that a young child, a minor, should be able to get an abortion easier than a tattoo -- they are the extremists.' We decided to check whether minors need their parents' permission to get a tattoo, but don't need permission to get an abortion. Parental consent laws First, the laws about parental consent for abortion and tattoos vary from state to state, so it's not possible to make a blanket statement as Rubio did and apply it to the whole country. According to data through March 2015 compiled by the National Conference of State Legislatures, at least 45 states have laws prohibiting minors from getting tattoos, with the majority of those states allowing it if there's parental consent. For example, Florida law requires written, notarized consent of a minor's parent or legal guardian in order to tattoo a minor. Now let's look at whether minors need their parents' permission to obtain an abortion. There are two different categories of parental involvement: one is consent, which means a parent has to sign off on the abortion, while the other one is simply notification which can mean the parent receives a letter or a phone call about the abortion. According to Guttmacher Institute, a group that tracks abortion policy and statistics, a majority of states require consent and/or notification. In 38 states, minors either have to get consent and/or notify their parents, while in 12 states they don't need either. We asked Alex Conant, a spokesman for Rubio, which states require parental consent for a tattoo but not for an abortion. Using information from Planned Parenthood about abortion laws and the National Conference of State Legislatures about tattoo laws, Conant pointed to seven states:
Our ruling Rubio said 'a minor cannot get a tattoo without parental consent but can get an abortion without parental consent.' Rubio has a good argument for about 11 states, but that's a minority. More commonly, parents by law need to be at least notified -- and in many cases give their consent -- for a minor to have an abortion. There is a significant exception, however: 37 states allow a minor to go through a judge without notifying parents. As for tattoos, most states either ban them for minors or require parental consent. We rate this claim Half True.
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