Your parents or the judge: Massachusetts' new abortion consent law.

"As a practical matter, I would suppose that the need to commence judicial proceedings in order to obtain a legal abortion would impose a burden at least as great as, and probably greater than, that imposed on the minor child by the need to obtain the consent of a parent."

Supreme Court Justice

John Paul Stevens

Bellotti v. Baird, 1979

On April 23, Massachusetts began to enforce a law requiring any unmarried minor to have the consent of both her parents or the authorization of a judge before she may obtain an abortion. Similar legislation went into effect shortly before then in North Dakota and is to be implemented soon in Missouri; (*) it is expected that such laws will be passed in other states as well. (+) Since Massachusetts is the only state thus far to have extensive experience with such a law (very few abortions are obtained in North Dakota by teenage residents), it is appropriate to look at what has happened in that state during the first three months the law has been in force.

To obtain an abortion in Massachusetts, an unmarried minor must have the consent of both her parents or, if she is unwilling to ask their permission or they deny consent, the approval of a judge of the superior court. The consent requirement applies even if the young woman is mature enough to consent on her own to the abortion, is living apart from her parents and supporting herself, or is herself a parent. If only one parent consents to the abortion, the minor must obtain a court order, unless her parents are divorced (in which case only the custodial parent may give consent), or one parent is dead. If both parents are dead or are "unavailable to the physician within a reasonable time and in a reasonable manner," (1) the pregnant minor's guardian or guardians must give consent.

In the first three months after the consent law took effect, 156 minors elected to go to court rather than ask their parents' consent to obtain an abortion. Their petitions were granted in all but two cases. The vast majority were approved because the judges determined that the minors were mature enough to give informed consent. In the other cases, the judges concluded that, though the minors were not mature, abortions were in their best interest. There is no statewide breakdown on the ages of the minors who are going to court, but court officials indicate that most are 16 and 17. This is borne out by figures available from the Suffolk County Superior Court in Boston, which has considered the largest number of abortion petitions of any court. (There is a superior court in each of Massachusetts' 14 counties.) Of the 62 teenagers who sought court authorization for abortions in Suffolk County as of July 23, 28 were 17, 24 were 16, seven were 15 and three were 14.