NationStates Jolt Archive

The US Supreme Court is hearing a challenge to a state law that requires girls under 18 to notify at least one parent before having an abortion.
Under the New Hampshire law minors can have an abortion without telling a parent only if their life is in danger.

A reproductive health care group is fighting the New Hampshire law, introduced in 2003 but not invoked.

It is the first abortion case for the court since 2000, and a first big case for new Chief Justice John Roberts.

The case does not involve a challenge to the landmark 1973 Roe v Wade case, which formalised the nationwide right to abortion in the US.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4484566.stm

This is being seen as a test case for both pro lifers and pro choicers. However, my question to the Americans on line-leaving the morality or otherwise of abortion out of this (if at all possible) is the issue of privacy. Should a 17 year old (or older in some states according to the full article) have to discuss her decision with regard to this or any other aspect of her healthcare with her parents? Do you know if this applies only to abortion or other medical procedures?

In New Hampshire, according to the story on NPR, you have to have your parents' permission to get your ears pierced. If you want to go to a tanning salon, your parents must bring you in personally for each appointment.

This is more than just a question about abortion, or even privacy.

It covers parental rights, standards of medical care, etc.

There are, for instance, many medical conditions that would necessitate an abortion as the standard of care, but do not pose an immediate threat to life. You can suffer a stroke, or have your kidneys damaged, or suffer other medical conditions as a result of a pregnancy gone bad, and not die - but suffer long term major health effects.

And parents cannot always be located, nor is a court open in New Hampshire 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, to give a doctor the go-ahead.

Ignoring that I'm a beaver-loving, pot-smoking tree hugging Canuck, I think that it should be left at that points in the girl's life top her own discretion. In fact, I think everyone should have the right to medical privacy starting at the age of 15, unless it is actually life threatening.

But, with abortion, I think that because a grown woman has the privacy, a teenager who can willingly engage in sexual relations is mature enough to deal with the psychological repercussions of her decision.

The prof-liers speak of protecting an unborn life and how this is God's way of making the girl pay for her sexual relations. Perhaps they ought to think of how much psychological damage it can do.

After all, the child, even if is rejected, is part of the woman and whether it is apparent or not, there is a chance that there is a hole left from the removal. It is an emotional scar.

In New Hampshire, according to the story on NPR, you have to have your parents' permission to get your ears pierced. If you want to go to a tanning salon, your parents must bring you in personally for each appointment.

This is more than just a question about abortion, or even privacy.

It covers parental rights, standards of medical care, etc.

And parents cannot always be located, nor is a court open in New Hampshire 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, to give a doctor the go-ahead.


Yeah, that's what I was getting at, and the other examples you give a pretty demonstrative.

God help a 17 year old girl with an ectopic pregnancy :(

Yeah, that's what I was getting at, and the other examples you give a pretty demonstrative.

God help a 17 year old girl with an ectopic pregnancy :(
I think that would warrent exception, since it is a medical emergency because her life is threatened.

I think that would warrent exception, since it is a medical emergency because her life is threatened.

The law, as written, requires an "immediate" lethal threat. Ectopic is usually not "immediate" as defined in the law. They are obviously trying to close the loophole that would ordinarily be in there about "the life and health of the mother".

I am an active member of my college's VOX: Voices for Choice group, and we read an article a few months ago about the parental notification laws in Texas. Texas has an extremely high teen pregnancy (and birth) rate, and many associate this with their strict notification laws.

A study found that the majority of pregnany 17 year olds in Texas would try to "ride it out" until their 18th birthday, when they could obtain an abortion without parental notification. This often led to later-term abortions which inherently come with more health risks and complications. If the parental notification laws were erradicted, the rate of post-abortion complications could be drastically lowered. Also, we cannot take into account the family situation of every young girl. In cases where the pregnancy resulted from incest, rape, sexual violence, or coercion, there is an added sense of shame. Young women internalize their guilt, blame themselves and are therefore less likely to seek the support of their parents (if their parents would even give support).

I got pregnant due to a contraceptive failure when I was 18. I had an abortion, but decided not to tell my parents until after the fact. It was not out of shame or guilt, but out of the feeling that I was an adult. I had gotten pregnant and it was, therefore, my responsibility to deal with it as I saw fit. Both of my parents are pro-choice, and I knew I would not have to deal with their moral objections if I told them, but I felt as though the stress and worry the situation would cause them was not necessary, since I was in college and they were hundreds of miles away. Young women, despite what some seem to think, are generally capable of handling stressful situations without the help of their parents. If a woman decides to involve her parents, that is her desicion, if not, that is also her desicion. Mandantory notification decreases the sense of self-autonomy and reinforces a woman's dependence on her parents.

If a woman is old enough to decide to have sex, she is old enough to decide how to deal with any results of that act. The desicion to include or not include is completely singular.

I've met quite a few women (including my current wife) who have had abortions when they were younger.

Absolutely none of them have ever told their parents, even to this day.

If a woman is old enough to decide to have sex, she is old enough to decide how to deal with any results of that act. The desicion to include or not include is completely singular.

What do you consider old enough to have sex?