Lawsuit Challenges Alaska Parental Notification Law for Teens Seeking Abortions

ACLU - Blog of Rights: Young Women Seeking Abortion Care Get the Cold Shoulder in Alaska, by Andrew Beck:

 

For decades, teens in Alaska had been able to obtain abortions without the state ordering the involvement of their parents. In 1997, however, the Alaska legislature passed a law preventing young women from obtaining abortions without parental consent. The ACLU, together with Planned Parenthood and the Center for Reproductive Rights, sued the state, and in 2007, the Alaska Supreme Court ruled that the law violated the Alaska Constitution.

 

Fast-forward four years later and we’re back challenging a new law — the Parental Notification Law (PNL) — that forbids doctors from providing abortions to young women without notifying their parents. The fact is that most teens, in Alaska and elsewhere, inform their families when they face an unintended pregnancy. For some teens, however, this just isn’t an option: Some young women come from abusive families and would face physical abuse, emotional abuse, or the threat of being thrown out of the house if a parent found out that they were pregnant and seeking an abortion. . . .

 

See also: RH Reality Check: Hearing on Alaska Parental Notification Lawsuit Starts Today