Lisa Demer reports:
An Anchorage Superior Court judge has upheld as constitutional a state law requiring parents to be notified before a teen’s abortion. But the issue may not be resolved. Both sides expect it will wind up before the state Supreme Court.
Judge John Suddock, in a 65-page decision issued Monday, said the legal requirement does not violate a teenager’s right to privacy. Nor, the judge ruled, does it violate provisions to treat people equally even though a pregnant teen generally cannot receive an abortion without her parents’ knowing, but could get prenatal care.
Read more on Charlotte Observer.
At 17, a teen can drive. At 17, a teen may be months away from being able to vote. At 17, a teen can work. At 17, a teen would have medical confidentiality in NYS should she seek therapy with me. Yet that same teen can’t make a decision about her own body without having her parents notified? The law will continued to be challenged, and I hope it’s overturned.