Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood - SCOTUS takes on an abortion case!

The First Circuit case Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood has been granted cert.

At issue is a New Hampshire law requiring parental notification before a minor may have an abortion. The First Circuit, relying on Stenberg v. Carhart, the 2000 case that struck down a Nebraska law outlawing partial birth abortion because it failed to provide an exception for the health of the mother, struck down New Hampshire’s notification law for the same reason. (Technically, it found the health and death provisions unconstitutional).

Since the law was found unconstitutional by the circuit court, there is considerable speculation over why the Supremes granted review. Some believe the Court is signalling it will tighten up parental notification standards; others see it as a chance for the Court to set nationwide standards on the issue that favor minors’ anonymity.

We’ll see.

I am cautiously optimistic that this case will be the vehicle for the Court to find that state strict parental notification laws are permissible.

As you say, this could easily go either way.

For myself I find little to argue with parental notification. School nurses can’t give tylenol in some schools (mine couldn’t and we had MDs on staff at all times in high school) with parental notification yet that same kid could have a pretty serious medical procedure done without such notification? Urgh.

This is another one of those instances where I don’t really care what the rules are…it just bugs me that they’re not consistent. Choose a direction and stick with it.

I don’t see anything good about parental notification laws. They have the most effect on those kids who are least likely to get their parents’ consent (thus least likely to notify their parents themselves), and abortion is too important a choice to be controlled by anyone but the person directly involved.

But I’m with Jonathan Chance on consistency. Either someone should be able to make her own medical decisions, or she shouldn’t.

The difference between parental notification for abortion and for other medical exigincies is that a minor is probably not going to get beaten up or thrown out of the house for needing an aspirin or some stitches. In some cases the parent is the one who got the girl pregnant.

Abortion is a uniquely personal decision and involves a level of privacy that even parents have no right to intrude upon uninvited.

I also think that threatening to inform parents will have the effect of driving teenage girls away from legal clinics and towards more illicit means of abortion and could possibly even cause more incidents of neoinaticide.

I can’t see any benefit whatever to making it more undesirable for a pregnant teen to seek medical attention.

The law contains an exception to permit a judge to give approval in those situations.

That isn’t the law, and I hope and pray it does not BECOME the law.

Well, we’ll see who can pray harder.

How exactly does a teenager go through a legal procedure to get a judge to approve WITHOUT her parents being notified, unofficially if nothing else? “Where were you all day, honey?” “Oh, I was at court trying to get a judge to let me have an abortion.” “That’s nice”.

Uh-huh.

Also, is this judge’s exemption only given for cases of sexual abuse or can it also be given for fear of physical abuse or abandonment?

What are the criteria for establishing whether the girl is telling the truth about abuse or is making it up. If she can’t prove anything does she still get the exception? Will the court just take her at her word? if so, then what’s to stop any and all of them from claiming abuse or fear of abuse to avoid parental notification?

How many of the abortions that would require parental notification are a result of incest Diogenes?

Not sure on this one, but a lot of the time it is a balancing best interests kind of test. Which of course means it depends on what judge you get.

This is the problem with all the exceptions as far as I can see. It is going to leave way too much to the discretion of the judge. Asking a child to make that kind of accusation as well is also incredibly wrenching given the circumstances. Many people take years to come to the position where they can confront their abuse. The aim, of course, is nothing to do with parental rights/notification. It’s to reduce the number of abortions, and it is a lot easier to do that by picking on a group of society with less power than it is to go head on at abortion rights.

I’m intrigued, Bricker, as to the basis of your belief that this decision should include the parents. I can see a few ways that someone might come to that view, but don’t tend to find any of them persuasive.

What possible difference does it make? I don’t know statistics, it’s not the kind of thing that’s going to be accurately recorded. Anecdotally, I’ve personally known two girls who were impregnated by stepfathers. I accompanied one of them to an abortion clinic where she she screamed at by protesters and called a “slut.”

But my concern is not just for sexual abuse but for girls who would be abused in other ways if they were forced to tell their parents about a pregnancy.

One is enough. There is no acceptable number that should be victimized by narcing them out to abusive parents.

I don’t buy that at all. At the end of the day these parents are these childrens legal guardians. As such they are responsible for these children and need to be informed of their medical procedures. By your reasoning we shouldn’t send home report cards or call the parents when a kid is arrested. I am sure there has been one child beat for their grades or legal troubles.

Threatening to inform abusive parents about a girl’s pregnancy will not prevent her from seeking an abortion, it will only prevent her from seeking a safe abortion.

How many girls do you think will go to “back-alley” abortionists if parental notification is required?

More than one.

That will be one effect, and it won’t just be back alley abortions in all likelihood, it will be do-it-yourself ones. But I also think there would be a growth in abused kids carrying pregnancies to term as a result.

I thought we had already dispensed with this line of reasoning.

Really? When? I must have missed it.

Can you guarantee that not a single girl will seek a do-it-yourself abortion? How so?

(The fact that you don’t seem to find it objectionable to turn girls in to abusive parents is a point that’s not worth arguing with. If you don’t care, I can’t make you care)

How many girls end up at bargain basement, back alley abortionists because they haven’t consulted their parents, and don’t have the funds or knowledge to find a quality abortion clinic. Teenagers are notorious for making poor decisions. Taking parents out of the loop isn’t the answer.

Like I said before it is certain that somewhere some kid was beaten for his grades or for being arrested. That does not mean we should stop sending grades home or calling a childs guardian when he is arrested.

:rolleyes: