The Texas judicial bypass process, which allows minors to seek an abortion when they can’t get permission from their parents, is used as a form of punishment that humiliates and shames young women, a new study claims. The study, which was published in the Journal of Adolescent Health, found that minors seeking a judge’s permission for abortion face an uncertain and needlessly burdensome process.
Women seeking care at Texas abortion clinics face a wide range of restrictions designed to make abortion difficult, intrusive, and less affordable.
How Texas’s Judicial Bypass Law Harms Teens
Numerous states have enacted some form of parental notification requirement. Abortion clinics in these states cannot perform an abortion on a minor without getting parental permission—sometimes on both parents. Even in cases where a parent is abusive or has impregnated the child, she must still get parental permission.
The judicial bypass process allows teens to seek permission from a judge instead of a parent. To assess this process, researchers interviewed 20 Texas teens who sought a judicial bypass in Texas.
The study found that, rather than protecting adolescents, judicial bypass subjected teens to abuse from judges. The decision-making process was inconsistent and unpredictable.
“We found the bypass process functions as a form of punishment and allows state actors to humiliate adolescents for their personal decisions. The bypass process was implemented to protect adolescents from alleged negative emotional consequences of abortion, yet our results suggest the bypass process itself causes emotional harm through unpredictability and humiliation,” the study says.
Many teens said the judicial bypass process was humiliating or traumatic. It also presented numerous logistical burdens, including transportation, finding legal counsel, and spending many days away from school seeking a judicial bypass. Many cried during their interviews for the study, and said they were still struggling to recover from the process.
Three of the girls in the study were ultimately denied a bypass.
“You guys keep telling me I’m not mature enough to make this decision and I don’t know what I’m getting myself into, yet . . . if I’m not mature enough to make a decision like this how am I mature enough to even have a baby and to go through the emotional and physical changes of having a kid?” said one in her hearing before a judge who ultimately denied her an abortion.
Parental Notification Laws: A Form of Abuse
Teens who grow up in abusive families are significantly more likely to become pregnant. For some pregnant teenagers, the pregnancy itself may be a trigger for violence. Parental notification laws may endanger these teens by forcing them to tell their parents about the pregnancy. But that’s exactly the point: anti-abortion laws have always been about punishing women, especially those who live in abusive or impoverished families.
The United States has the highest maternal mortality rate in the industrialized world. Forcing a teen to carry to term a baby she cannot afford, especially if she is afraid to tell her parents about the pregnancy, may endanger her life.
Brett Kavanaugh, a judge who allegedly attempted to rape a woman, may ultimately decide the fate of teens humiliated in Texas and women facing unwanted pregnancies across the nation. Kavanaugh’s previous decisions suggest he supports onerous parental notification requirements.
A number of cases in the lower courts may eventually wind their way to the Supreme Court, determining the fate of Roe vs. Wade. This means that a man credibly accused of rape may also be the one who eventually decides whether rape survivors are forced to carry to term—or perhaps even die for—their rapists’ babies. And yet Republican talking points continue to focus on two themes: either attempting to rape someone three decades ago is fine, even a normal part of youth; or that any woman who accuses any man of rape should immediately be disbelieved and attacked.
It’s enraging. It’s enough to paralyze anyone. Women across the nation are witnessing the Republican party become the pro-rape party. Survivors are learning exactly how little Republicans think they matter. But now is not the time to get mad, post online, and give up. Vote. Vote in every election. It’s the only way any of this changes. Verify your registration or register to vote here.
