State laws requiring healthcare providers to notify a parent about a young person's abortion decision cause harmful delays and can block access to abortion, Human Rights Watch and If/When/How: Lawyering for Reproductive Justice said in a report released today. As access to abortion in the United States continues to deteriorate, young people face additional hurdles to receiving care.
The 89-page report, "Whose Abortion Is It? The Harms of State-Mandated Parental Notification for Abortion and Judicial Bypass in the United States," documents how state-mandated parental notification laws in six US states threaten young people's health and safety and undermine their human rights. Most young people considering abortion involve a parent in their decision. Those who do not often have no access to a parent or fear that parental involvement will lead to severe consequences, such as physical abuse, loss of housing, family alienation, or forced continuation of a pregnancy against their wishes. The alternative to notifying a parent involves petitioning a judge for a court order in an invasive, stressful, and often traumatizing process called "judicial bypass."
"Young people should be able to access abortion care without being forced to involve an unsupportive parent or appear before a judge in court," said Margaret Wurth, senior children's rights researcher at Human Rights Watch and a co-author of the report. "State lawmakers committed to reproductive freedom should defend young people's health, safety, and dignity by repealing parental notification for abortion laws."
Currently, 25 US states where abortion is legal at some point in pregnancy require a healthcare provider to notify or obtain consent from a parent or legal guardian before providing abortion care to anyone under 18. While policymakers have described parental notification for abortion laws as less onerous than parental consent laws, Human Rights Watch and If/When/How found that parental notification laws effectively grant parents-or a judge-veto power over a young person's abortion decision.
The researchers found that judicial bypass delays care, endangers young people, and can present an insurmountable barrier for some.
Researchers interviewed 62 healthcare providers, attorneys experienced in representing youth in judicial bypass cases, people working for abortion funds (organizations offering support to those seeking care), advocates, and public health researchers across the six states, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Iowa, Montana, and New Hampshire. They found that state-mandated parental notification laws have harmful impacts on youth similar to those in states with parental consent laws. Earlier this year, a similar law went into effect in Nevada, but that state is not included in the report. Legal challenges to Nevada's law are ongoing.
When parents are able to withhold financial support, restrict young people's movement or access to communication or transportation, or threaten life-altering consequences, they can effectively block young people's access to abortion care even if the law requires only notice and not explicit consent, the researchers found.
"All young people should be able to make their own decisions about their bodies and futures with the support of the people they trust," said Jessica Goldberg, associate director of youth access at If/When/How and a co-author of the report. "Whether a young person can access abortion or not can determine the entire trajectory of their life. In this moment of continuous efforts to cut off access to abortion, it's imperative that state policymakers use their power to remove needless barriers for young people."
Even for young people who involve a parent and do not pursue judicial bypass, forced notification laws can delay and obstruct access to abortion, pushing young people to seek care later in pregnancy that may be more costly or time-consuming. Interviewees described young people delaying care by a week or more to track down contact information for a parent or legal guardian who was no longer involved in their lives. The laws compel some young people to involve unsupportive parents who belittle or shame them as they seek abortion care, the groups found.
In one case in the report, clinic staff believed a young person was so frightened by parental notification that she remained pregnant against her wishes. "We scheduled her for an appointment and hoped she could come, and we could walk her through the process [of parental notification or judicial bypass]," but the young person never made it to the appointment. "We lost contact with her."
These laws also grant immense power to judges whose biases and antiabortion beliefs can influence their decisions to block a young person's access to abortion. The system lends itself to arbitrary decision-making, with judges using factors such as young people's grades, extracurricular activities, or career ambitions to determine their maturity to make an abortion decision.
"The idea that a young person is not mature enough to make a decision about whether they want to parent, but they are mature enough to raise a child … feels so disingenuous," said the director of a clinic that provides abortion. "You can't decide not to be pregnant, but you can raise a child for the rest of your life with no one questioning your maturity level?"
Parental notification laws and judicial bypass processes cause distinct and additional harm to youth already facing systematic barriers to accessing abortion care and fair treatment in the US legal system in general, especially Black, Indigenous, and other young people of color, and young people in the foster system, the groups found.
Lawmakers in states with parental notification laws should repeal these laws and affirm young people's rights to make fundamental decisions about their bodies and lives.
