Utah Free Press

Originally published March 24th, 2006 by Rich Okelberry at www.LincolnsBlog.com.

Authorities should move to secure genetic material.

Over the years, a lot of attention has been given to the question of whether or not teens should be allowed to obtain an abortion without parental consent. Well, I am not going to argue for or against that point right now. I do want to point out that when a 15 year old girl does have an abortion, the genetic material contained in the discarded fetus should be collected by law enforcement and used as evidence of a crime. What crime you ask? First degree, unlawful sexual assault of a minor child is a felony in Nebraska.

Recently, Nebraska became the focus of national media attention when it was found that Matthew Koso, 22, had sexual relations with a 13 year old girl who in turn became pregnant. Koso took the teen to Kansas to be married in an attempt to legitimize his action. Regardless, Attorney General Jon Bruning charged him with first-degree sexual assault, punishable by up to 50 years in prison if convicted. Jon Bruning was quoted on the matter saying, “Of course the marriage is valid .. but it doesn’t matter.” “I’m not going to stand by while a grown man … has a relationship with a 13-year-old – now 14-year old – girl.” I applaud Mr. Bruning’s conviction in this matter and challenge him to have the same resolve in dealing with offenders whose crimes are covered up by abortions.

If the young girl assaulted by Koso had chosen to have an abortion, none of us would have ever heard a thing about the case. While I am not privileged to the number of teen abortions performed in Nebraska, I feel that even one is evidence of a serious crime. No doubt abortion advocates will try and claim that the girls are protected by rights to privacy guaranteed them by the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision. I don’t believe that is true. High courts have repeatedly trumped individual privacy when there is a compelling public interest. The public interest in this case is the fact that most child molesters are repeat offenders and no individual has the right to conceal their actions and possibly place another child at risk of future assaults by that individual. Furthermore, organizations like Planned Parenthood, as well as individuals, are compelled to report illegal activities and preserve any evidence associated with the activity. Failure to do so can bring charges of obstructing justice and destruction of evidence.

I’m sure also, that as this issue becomes more public, you will see abortion legislative representatives scramble to enact legislation to protect abortion clinics from prosecution should they fail to turn over evidence. Let’s see where our government officials stand on this issue. Nebraska has the opportunity to be the first State in the Union to seek out and prosecute these crimes in this manner. Let’s not let these child victims down and let politics get in the way of justice.