Are minors the legal guardians of their own children or are their guardians also the guardians of their children until they (the minor parents) come of age? How much control over medical decisions relating to her pregnancy does an underage girl have? Many jurisdictions require parental consent to terminate a pregnancy; could a parent/guardian force his/her daughter to get an abortion? Could they force her to get a C-section? Do they need to consent to pre-natal care? Do they need to consent to care for tha baby?
These are great questions and I’ll be watching this thread for some answers.
I’ll add one more question: Is a parent required to support the child of a minor child?
This isn’t specifically asked in the OP, but I have known several grandparents who were startled to realize that care related to pregnancy of their minor children was not covered under their particular insurance policies, and that their grandchildren could not be covered under their policies at all unless their children signed over custody to them, the grandparents. The latter makes some sort of sense, but the former came as a surprise to many. Obviously, insurance policies vary.
As someone who was there (actually, my father found out I was pregnant at 17 when he opened a letter from the insurance company that began: “In regards to your recent request for information on maternity benefits…”. His wife had had a hysterectomy years before. D’oh!) I can say that usually what happens is that the mother’s medical costs will be covered, but not the baby’s. So prenatal visits will be covered, and mom’s hospital bills, but not baby’s hospital bills or subsequent health care.
This is assuming, of course, that you have a maternity rider on your policy. Lots of companies now don’t include maternity coverage as default. If you don’t have maternity, then of course nothing pregnancy-related is covered.
If, however, my dad had adopted my son, his bills would have been covered as well, as you say.
The matter of Emancipation may play into this issue.
Interesting. I wonder, though…can a parent force emancipation on a kid?
I’m pretty sure the answer is no, otherwise they’d be doing it all the time. 
Yeah, I probably should have said, can the parents legally refuse to care for the baby?
Add me to the list of the curious.
Hi, long time lurker, but I’m amazed to find I’m actually qualified to post a reply on this one (I work in hospital registration and OB admissions), so here goes nothing:
A father is not a legal guardian of a child until he reaches his own majority or emancipates himself from his parents. A minor mother, on the other hand, becomes legally emancipated when she has a child, (I can only speak for North Carolina laws explicitly, YMMV) and acts as the child’s guardian herself. I would imagine social services and common sense would intervene in the case of another Lina Medina
I’m not quite sure which set of parents you’re talking about Kalhoun, but the grandparents of the new baby can (and sometimes do) refuse to have anything to do with the child. On the other hand, 13-year-old momma can’t just refuse responsibility for her baby based on her age.
Looking back at the OP, the grandparents do maintain many decision making reponsibilities for the mother-to-be until the time of birth. The answers to some of your specific questions will differ state-to-state (and certainly country to country). Roe v. Wade, however, assures the decision to come down to the mother and her doctor, not her parents. Parental notification requirements, again, will vary
Well, I’m referring to a 13-year-old who has to be cared for by her parents. Food, clothing, housing, medical, etc. Do they automatically HAVE to feed, clothe, or house the infant? It’s not like a 13 year old can go out and get a job. But even if she was 16 and had a job at Mickey D’s, that paycheck wouldn’t cover much in the way of support for two people. Would a child who still lives with her parents get support for her child by law?
Interesting, do you know if abortions are covered?
Technically, not necessarily. Because the child has become emancipated with the birth of the child (legally, mommy and daddy have to cover her pre-natal care and everything until she has the child), the parents can refuse to have anything to do with their child, as minor emancipation means both loss of parental authority and parental responsibility. Just as a comparison, a minor becomes similarly emancipated if they marry as well.
Of course, if the 13 year old has parents who entirely disown her, US society has welfare, medicaid, public housing, WIC, and all sorts of programs to help the new mom out. The efficacy of these programs may or may not be up to the entire support of a mother and child, but that’s outside the scope of your question, I think.
In general, an insurance policy that doesn’t cover OB care for minor dependents will not cover abortion procedures, as well. There is at least one carrier that I know of that, somewhat chillingly, will happily take care of abortions, but will not pay for a lot of prenatal care.
To be fair, however, all insurances are governed by the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), which does require a certain level of support by an insurance company for pregnant women with emergencies related to their pregnant state (delivery is not considered one of those emergencies, however). Most states’ medicaid programs are designed with young pregnant women as one of their key client bases, and do a very good job of assuring a certain level of care, even if they don’t pay much compensation to the medical institutions providing it. :mad:
Interesting, so if a 13 (or 5 :eek: ) yr old girl gives birth she becomes a legal adult? So if her parents threw her out that means she’s ineligable for foster care, doesn’t it?
Sounds strange, doesn’t it? Doesn’t change the truth of the matter. I think all of the social workers I’ve met could find a way around restrictions against foster care for a five year old, but I imagine it would have to come with an agreement by the new parent to put the infant up for adoption.
Happily, most of the grandparents I’ve met in these situations (12-15 year olds, never anything as exciting as a 5 years old) seem to be fairly supportive.
Cite?
In Colorado, as it relates to EMS, minors who have had a child are considered emancipated. This means that they can consent to their own medical care as well as consent to care for their child.