Whether or not women under the age of 18 should be required to inform their parents/guardians prior to an abortion is a controversial issue. People who oppose notification want young women to have the same rights and privacy as their older counterparts, and those who are for it fear that younger women may not be mentally prepared for the decision or could be victims of statutory rape going unnoticed or unreported by medical professionals. Either way, the State of Alaska has voted in favour of parental notification, which takes effect this Tuesday.
Ballot Measure 2, which passed, and is now the parental notification law, would require minors under the age of 18 to notify a parent or guardian before getting an abortion.
A third group joined in on arguments between the state and Planned Parenthood during Friday’s preliminary injunction hearing.
Planned Parenthood and the State of Alaska met for the first time in court, after a ballot initiative was passed in the August primary.
It’s not surprising that Planned Parenthood disagrees and has, of course, filed a complaint.
Planned Parenthood of the Greater Northwest and two doctors filed a complaint Friday in state court in Anchorage, the Anchorage Daily News reported. They contend the law treats teens who want to end their pregnancies differently from those who do not want abortions and are not required to tell their parents about their pregnancies.
The law is so vague, physicians are likely to have trouble determining when they are in compliance, the doctors said. The law, approved by the voters in August, allows teens to avoid the consent requirement by going before a judge or presenting doctors with a notarized affidavit of parental abuse.
Firstly, young women who are pregnant will, eventually, find it very difficult to keep their pregnancies secret from mom and dad. Secondly, there’s no grey area here. Women with affidavits or judge approval don’t need consent, that’s it. If a doctor finds this too confusing, perhaps they’re not mentally sound enough to practice medicine in the first place.
A few months ago, when the State of Nebraska voted for more in-depth screening for abortion procedures, Planned Parenthood of the Heartland filed a lawsuit, and the state couldn’t financially handle the fight. Alaska, however, with its annually granted permanent funds and strong oil and fishing industry, has a lot more money.
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