Many Parents of Teenagers Think Parental Involvement Laws Will Increase Risks

Abstract

Parents of adolescents in Minnesota and Wisconsin are divided in their support of laws requiring parental involvement in minors’ reproductive health care but they are nearly unanimous in expecting that such laws will breed negative consequences. Fifty-five percent of parents participating in a 2002 survey said that overall proposed laws requiring that parents be notified before their minor children obtain prescription contraceptives are a good idea. Nevertheless 96% would expect such requirements to have some negative outcome such as decreased use of effective contraceptives and increases in unprotected intercourse pregnancies and STDs among teenagers. Parents’ likelihood of supporting parental notification laws fell as the number of negative consequences they expected rose. A total of 1069 parents of 13–17-year-olds completed the population-based telephone survey which elicited respondents’ views on three key issues: the right of minors younger than 18 to receive contraceptive services at a clinic without parental consent; a specific requirement for written parental notification that would entail several days’ delay before the minor could receive the requested service; and the overall idea of parental notification. The survey also asked parents which of 11 consequences (four positive and seven negative) they thought would follow from implementation of a parental notification law and which of six possible exceptions such a law should allow. (excerpt)