Parental Consent Law for Minors Ruled Unconstitutional by Alaska Supreme Court
For Immediate Release
November 2, 2007
Clover Simon, CEO
Planned
Parenthood of Alaska
907.770.9705
or 240-7449
Dionne Scott, Senior Press Officer
Center for Reproductive Rights
917.733.4357
Sharon Legenza, Interim Exec. Director
ACLU of Alaska
907.258.0044
ANCHORAGE – Today, the Alaska Supreme Court found the Parental Consent Act, which requires teenagers to obtain either parental consent or a judicial bypass prior to seeking an abortion, unconstitutional. The case is Planned Parenthood of Alaska, et.al., v. State of Alaska, brought by the Center for Reproductive Rights and the ACLU of Alaska on behalf of Planned Parenthood of Alaska and a local doctor seeking to protect the privacy rights and the health of their patients.
The Supreme Court ruled that the parental consent law, which was first enacted in 1997 but has never been enforced, violates the explicit right to privacy contained in the Alaska Constitution by giving parents “veto power” over a minor’s decision to terminate a pregnancy.
“While we are satisfied with the ruling, I am sorry that parental consent is even an issue. In a perfect world parents would be involved in the decision making around these decisions. However, youth who do not involve their parents have very compelling reasons,” said Planned Parenthood of Alaska CEO Clover Simon. “We challenged this law to protect the few minors who cannot seek parental consent for fear of physical or mental retribution. We adamantly support parental involvement. Our protocols require staff to encourage all minors to involve their parents in their reproductive health decisions.”
“We are pleased that Alaska’s highest court recognized that its constitution protects teenagers facing one of the most important decisions in their lives,” said Janet Crepps, lead attorney on the case and acting director of the domestic legal program at the Center for Reproductive Rights. “We know that a parent is involved in most cases when a teen is seeking an abortion. But allowing parents to be the make these decisions for their daughters is not only intrusive, but robs them of a very basic right.”
As the Court recognized, when the state requires a young woman to get permission from her parents before for obtaining an abortion, “it is no longer the pregnant minor who ultimately chooses to exercise her right to terminate her pregnancy, but that minor’s parents. And it is the shifting of the locus of choice—this relocation of a fundamental right from minors to parents – that is constitutionally suspect.”
Lead attorneys for the plaintiffs are Janet Crepps with the Center for Reproductive Rights and Jeff Feldman of Feldman, Orlansky, and Sanders in Anchorage as Cooperating Attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska.
Through reproductive health services, education and public advocacy, the mission of Planned Parenthood of Alaska is to support the life-long sexual health of all Alaskans and to ensure that every child is a wanted child.
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