Thirty-seven states now require minors to seek parental approval before undergoing an abortion. In some states, girls have to get permission from both parents, creating additional hurdles for girls in single parent homes.
According to a study published this month in the Journal of Adolescent Health, these laws don’t halt abortion. They may, however, harm minors and cause an increase in riskier second trimester abortions.
Abortion Notification Laws Hurt Teens, Don’t Affect Abortion
The study analyzed records for 1,577 women seeking abortions at a single Illinois facility before and after the implementation of a parental notification law.
Researchers found that parental notification laws did not increase parental support for teens seeking an abortion. They also eroded teens’ confidence in their decision to seek an abortion. Though these laws did not lower the abortion rate, they did cause girls to delay their abortions. After the implementation of notification laws, the portion of abortions occurring in the second trimester increased from 23 to 26 percent.
Second trimester abortions are more expensive, and carry more risks. Given anti-choicers’ ongoing efforts to remove the safety net and punish women for getting pregnant, this outcome seems deliberate. If you can’t stop a girl from having an abortion, the Republican thought process goes, you might as well make the abortion more expensive and painful.
The study only included women who eventually had an abortion, not those who merely weighed the possibility. This means that the study may have actually underestimated the negative effects of parental notification laws, since it excluded women who were unable to obtain an abortion.
Republican Family Values: Putting Vulnerable Teens in Danger
Republicans have long insisted that parental notification laws are about “family values.” These laws, they argue, encourage communication about a major decision that can affect girls’ emotional and physical well-being.
It sounds reasonable if you assume that all parents are loving, all girls can safely communicate with their parents, and child abuse never happens. That’s not reality.
Research shows that girls already talk to their parents about their abortions when they feel safe doing so. A study published in 2014 found that girls talked to their parents and other adults about their abortion decisions, even in states without parental notification laws, when they had loving relationships with these adults. So no law needs to mandate these discussions.
For girls who lack loving parental relationships parental notification laws can prove dangerous, and even deadly. Child abuse is common, and abused children are 25% more likely to get pregnant as teenagers. What happens to these children if they have to turn to their parents for help? Pretending that all parents are loving, that teens never get pregnant from incest, or that asking a parent about an abortion is never dangerous will not change reality.
A handful of studies have shown that teens who don’t tell their parents about an abortion often have compelling reasons for this decision. Eight percent say they fear physical abuse. Twenty-two percent say they are worried about being kicked out, and 14 percent say their parents abuse drugs or alcohol. Twelve percent live with neither parent.
Yet again we see Republicans punishing women for pregnancy under the guise of family values.
Judicial overrides offer little help. Judges’ decisions are highly subjective, and they can delay or deny access to abortion for numerous arbitrary reasons, leaving vulnerable girls with nowhere to turn.
Attempts to control teenagers seeking abortions are part of a larger political story. The Trump administration has doubled down on its efforts to stop immigrant teens from having abortions, most recently seeking assistance from the Supreme Court. If the government wins its fight, then immigrant teens could be forced to give birth in detention facilities to babies ineligible for most government support. Despite ongoing efforts to stop minors from having abortions, Republican legislators have offered no plans to help teen mothers raise their babies or get an education. It’s just one more piece of evidence that Republican interest in abortion is about punishing women, not protecting children