Factors associated with the use of court bypass by minors to obtain abortions.

Summary

Interviews with minors at four Minnesota abortion clinics revealed that 43 percent used the court bypass option that is part of that state's parental notification statute. The proportion who did so increased with age and was most common among lower socioeconomic groups. A discriminant function analysis showed that perceived maternal supportiveness was a key difference between those who went to court and those who notified their parents. Young women who attended religious services frequently were less likely than those who did not to tell their parents of their abortion plans. Minors who notified only one parent--and still had to go to court under Minnesota law, which requires notification of both parents--were more likely than those who told neither to come from a single-parent household and to have good communication with their mother.

Introduction

Abortion has been a complex legal issue ever since the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, (1) especially as the law applies to minors. Proponents of laws requiring parental involvement when minors seek abortions contend that because the procedure is surgical, parental consent is fundamental. (2) They also argue that abortion is a major life decision, and therefore it is in society's best interest not only to encourage but to mandate parental involvement, even when minors wish to avoid it. (3)

Those opposed to such laws suggest that one cannot legislate intrafamilial communication, especially if it has not existed prior to a daughter's pregnancy. (4) For many young women, they argue, family life has been marked by extensive parental absences, violence and other disruptions. (5)

Currently, ten states require parental consent while five mandate parental notification. While U.S. courts have upheld parental notification statutes enacted by state legislatures, they have required a bypass procedure to allow for judicial review of these cases when minors are unable or unwilling to notify their parents.

In some instances, parental notification is defined by statute to mean notification of both biological parents. This is the case in Minnesota, for example, where a law requiring two-parent notification and allowing for judicial bypass was enacted in 1984. The law requires that abortion providers notify, by certified mail, both biological parents (including those never married or divorced) of their minor child's pending abortion within 48 hours of the procedure. Teenagers who cannot or will not notify both parents may use a "judicial bypass" whereby a judge determines whether or not the minor is sufficiently mature to make the decision herself, or if confidentiality is in her best interest. However, enforcement of the law had been barred in 1986 by a lower court decision. The U.S. Supreme Court, after examining the statute in the spring of 1990 (Hodgson v. Minnesota), (6) declared the two-parent notification requirement constitutional, as long as the bypass option is available. Five states have federal court stays on laws which will now be reconsidered in light of the Supreme Court decision. This article seeks to examine some of the issues relating to parental notification and court bypass procedures by identifying the characteristics of young women who have used the Minnesota court bypass and determining how those who have gone to court after notifiying one parent differed from those who have told neither.