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When Jessica Farrell was 29 and pregnant, she knew changes to her body were to be expected.

But the six spots on her chest bothered her, so she got them checked. The former Wright State University cheerleader, who started using tanning beds when she was 16, had basal cell carcinoma, a skin cancer in which malignant tumors grow on the outer layer of skin.

Her dermatologist, Dr. Samia Borchers, said it was a cancer she'd expect to see in an older person.

"That would've occurred in her middle-ages or older," said Borchers, who practices in Dayton.

Farrell and Borchers support a proposed bill by state Rep. Courtney Combs, R-Hamilton, that would deny minors access to commercial tanning beds unless they have a doctor's prescription.

"When you are so young you don't know a lot. But then you tend to think you know everything," said Farrell, a Miamisburg teacher.

So far Farrell has had two tumors removed and still has four left. She has scars, but she said, it "could have been a lot worse."

Farrell said she will never allow her 9-month-old daughter, Elly, to use a tanning bed.

"She'll be beautiful whether her skin is pale or not," Farrell said.

Rep. Tom Brinkman Jr., R-Cincinnati, chairman of the House commerce and labor committee that will hear the bill, thinks parental permission should be enough to permit tanning. That is currently the law.

Brinkman said he does not like the idea of restricting other people's children. He said, for example, he does not allow his children to drive until they are 18.

"I do that because I'm a pretty safe guy, but all parents shouldn't have to do the same," he said.

John Overstreet, executive director of the Indoor Tanning Association, opposes the bill. He said teens turned away from tanning salons will try to get tans from overexposure to the sun, which he said is more dangerous.

Overstreet said tanning salons are already regulated by the State Board of Cosmetology and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

"The state already does a good job of regulating the industry," he said.

The bill's sponsor disagrees. Tanning is dangerous and should be more strongly regulated, Combs said. He noted that more people are dying each year from skin cancer, particularly women. "It is just as detrimental as cigarette smoking," he said.

Meanwhile, Caitlin Smith, 16, an Alter High School student, said she goes to the tanning salon before her yearly trip to Florida so she will not burn on the beach. And she will continue, she said. "I get a base tan so I won't burn when I go to Florida," she said. "(Using a tanning salon) should be your own personal choice."