For several years, anti-choice members of Congress have attempted to enact dangerous legislation that could imperil the health of teens by limiting their access to abortion. On April 27, 2005, the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act (CIANA) passed in the House of Representatives by a vote of 270-157. The Senate refused to consider CIANA and instead passed S. 403, the Child Custody Protection Act (CCPA), by a vote of 65-34 on July 25, 2006.
On September 26, 2006, in an effort to enact a federal parental notification law before adjournment, the House of Representatives took up S. 403 and amended it to include the dangerous provisions of CIANA. This amended version of S. 403 passed in the House by a vote of 264-153. On September 27, Republican Leadership in the Senate filed a motion to bring the amended version of S. 403 back to the Senate floor for a vote. In a victory for pro-choice legislators and activists, the cloture motion failed on September 29 by a vote of 57-42. This means that this harmful bill will not reach President Bush before Congress adjourns.
S. 403 still contains the text of CCPA, which makes it a federal crime for a person other than a parent to help a minor from certain states obtain an abortion in another state if the minor has not fulfilled the parental involvement requirements of her home state. Under Section 2431 of the bill, trusted aunts, sisters, grandmothers, clergy, counselors, and friends could be fined or imprisoned for helping a teen who may be a victim of family abuse, rape, or incest. This bill would prevent teens from seeking the help they need and disregards the fact that teenagers' individual family circumstances differ. Additionally, this callous legislation does not include a constitutionally adequate health exception.
The new version of S. 403 creates additional harmful burdens for teens. Teens may be forced to comply with two different state's laws regarding abortion and/or encounter delays in having an abortion which can add risk. In other situations, some teens who cannot involve a parent may not even have the option of seeking a court waiver in lieu of informing their parents.
S. 403 essentially requires doctors to become experts on each state's abortion law. Under this provision, doctors are criminally liable if they provide abortion care to a teen from another state without first notifying a parent. The bill's requirements operate differently depending on the laws of the teen's home state.
If this bill is enacted, the health of teens would be endangered; their rights violated; the ability of trusted adults to help young women limited; and families' decisions second-guessed. Here are some possible outcomes if this bill is signed into law:
- A teen obtains a judicial bypass in Arkansas and travels with her aunt to her nearest provider in Louisiana, which also has a parental involvement law. She may be required to obtain a judicial bypass in both Louisiana and Arkansas if she does not want to involve her parents in her decision, a process which would further tax her already limited time and resources.
- A New Jersey teen travels to New York, both states without parental involvement laws. The New York doctor would be required to provide notice to her parents regardless of whether she can safely involve them in her decision. A court waiver would not be available since neither New Jersey nor New York has such a system in place. CIANA mandates parental involvement even in states that have chosen not to legislate such onerous requirements.
S. 403 places enormous obstacles in the paths of teens and their families, creates civil and criminal penalties for doctors who try to treat patients to the best of their abilities and for trusted family members and friends who try to help a teen in need.
In most instances, parents know about a teen's decision to terminate a pregnancy, whether or not the family lives in a state with a parental involvement law. Unfortunately, parental involvement is not a realistic option for teens who come from homes that are emotionally or physically abusive, or for many who are victims of rape or incest. Other teens may not want to involve their parents for fear of disappointing them.1 Major medical groups such as the American Medical Association (AMA), the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the American Medical Women's Association (AMWA), and the American Public Health Association (APHA) all stress that although parental involvement is ideal, laws mandating parental involvement threaten minors' health by encouraging teens to seek out dangerous alternatives to avoid telling their parents or by creating delays as a young woman navigates the judicial system. This legislation eliminates safe alternatives to parental involvement - such as turning to a grandmother or clergy member - and may instead lead young women to pursue dangerous alternatives.
This latest version of the Teen Endangerment Act continues to threaten the welfare of teens by isolating them from trusted friends and relatives and creating delays and burdens that could endanger their health. S. 403 further imposes incredibly onerous restrictions upon doctors who risk civil and criminal liability in the face of an ambiguous law. In clear violation of Supreme Court precedent, S. 403 lacks a constitutionally sufficient health exception. Finally, S. 403 erodes the policy decisions of states which specifically have declined to mandate parental involvement and treats young women differently depending on their home state.
The National Abortion Federation strongly opposes this bill that would endanger the health of young women.
1 In 1998, Bill and Karen Bell testified before Congress about their family's experience with a parental consent law. Ten years earlier, their 16-year-old daughter Becky learned she was pregnant. She feared disappointing her parents so much that she sought an illegal abortion rather than ask for her parents' consent. Within a week, Becky died from an infection caused by the unsafe abortion. The Bells believe that the parental consent law was responsible for Becky's death. Instead of encouraging Becky to involve her parents, the law led her to risk her life to obtain an abortion.
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