Parental Consent Laws Research Articles

Public Opinion and Policymaking in the States: The Case of Post‐Roe Abortion Policy

Whether public opinion should be expected to play a role in the shaping of abortion legislation in the states is a debatable question. Representation is a difficult task, especially if legislators receive mixed cues from the public, activists, and the political parties. In this study, we find that grass-roots activism and public opinion tend to match, and both are reflected in state abortion policy. In addition, more Pro-Life policies are found in states with a tradition of conservative policies in other areas, Republican majorities in the state legislature, more Catholic residents, and fewer women legislators. These patterns hold true for a composite index of abortion policies and for the specific policy area of government funding of abortions. Slightly different patterns occur for parental consent law, though these statutes also tend to reflect general preferences on abortion and interest group activity in a state.

Parental Involvement Laws and Minor and Non-Minor Teen Abortion and Birth Rates

The effects of parental notice and consent laws on abortion and birth rates were analyzed for two groups of teens: those 15 to 17 years old (i.e., minor teens) and those 18 to 19 years old (i.e., non-minor teens). Twelve states report abortion and birth statistics at the county level for these two age groups. The sample consists of 597 counties from these twelve states. Residence county abortion and birth rates were regressed against parental notice laws, parental consent laws, and several control variables (i.e., type of state public funding, population density, education and income levels, unemployment rate, family stability, extent of poverty, church membership, and geographic region). An important finding of this study is that both parental consent and notification laws were related to significantly lower abortion rates and to significantly higher birth rates for both minor and non-minor teens. Three measures (i.e., church membership, family stability, and education level) were related negatively and significantly to minor and non-minor teens' abortion rates and birth rates. One other measure (i.e., restrictive public funding) was related significantly to lower abortion rates and higher birth rates for minor and non-minor teens.

Birthrates Among Teenagers are Unaffected When States Require Parental Involvement in Their Abortion Decisions

This report presents the findings of a C. Ellerton study of the effects of abortion parental consent or notification laws on the birthrate of adolescents in Minnesota Missouri and Indiana US. Data were obtained from state health departments and the Census Bureau. The study was published in the 1997 American Journal of Public Health. Minnesota and Indiana were states that were surrounded by ones without restrictions on abortions. Missouri was used to estimate the odds that minors would travel out of state to obtain an abortion or delay seeking a procedure. Findings indicate that in all 3 states the parental involvement laws did not affect teen birthrates. The in-state abortion rate for minors decreased in all 3 states after the parental involvement laws went into effect. In Missouri the odds of traveling to another state for abortions increased by 53% when the parental consent law went into effect. The odds of out of state travel increased only 13% for 18-19 year olds and 18% for 20-24 year olds. Findings suggest that Missouris abortion rate decline among in-state teenagers may have been accounted for entirely by teenagers traveling out of state for abortions. In Minnesota the odds that women would wait longer than 8 weeks rose 10% among minors and declined 2-3% among older women during the enforcement period. The odds that minors would delay abortions past 8 weeks or 3 months declined by 22-23% after the state lifted the legislation. A number of reasons are offered to explain the abortion rate declines and the stable birthrates.

Teen Motherhood and Abortion Access

It is argued that the net effect of any restriction of abortion access on birth rates is an empirical question. This study examines the impact of access to abortion on county teenage birth rates. Birth rates are expected to decrease by 1% among White adolescents aged 15-19 years for a 25-mile increase in the distance to the nearest abortion provider particularly among in-wedlock births. Data are obtained from 1973-88 National Natality Local Area Summary files for counties in the US and four other national sources. Data did not provide useful information on the empirical relationship between access and birth rate for densely populated urban areas. Cross-sectional findings that had omitted variable bias indicate that an increase of 25 miles in distance to a provider was associated with an additional 1.4 births per 1000 White teenage women or a 3% increase in the average teen birth rate of 45/1000 White teenagers. The findings from a county fixed-effects model that controlled for omitted variable bias indicate that an increase of 25 miles was associated with a reduction in teen births of 0.5/1000 or about 1% of the mean birth rate. Both Medicaid restrictions and parental consent laws were negative and significant and more negative in poor and more isolated counties. The state-year effects models did not change findings on distance and Medicaid restriction effects. The effects of changes in timing of laws suggests that laws followed preexisting trends. Changes in distance to provider were primarily in the first 2 years following the change. Out-of-wedlock births were unaffected by changes in distance to providers. The out-of-wedlock teen birth rate increased with a complete ban on abortions. Fewer wanted births were associated with small restrictions. Findings imply that closing of clinics during 1977-88 had an impact on teen birth rates of under one-tenth of 1%. The 20% increase in teen births was unexplained.

Legislative Response to the Threat of Popular Initiatives

Theory: A spatial model of the policy process is used to identify conditions under which the threat of initiatives constrains legislative behavior. Hypotheses: Legislators in states that allow initiatives are expected to pass laws that more closely reflect their state's median voter's preference than legislators in states that do not allow initiatives. Methods: Logistic regression analysis of United States data relating state policies, state median voter preferences, provisions for the initiative, and several control variables in the policy area of parental consent requirements for teenage abortions. Results: Parental consent laws passed by legislatures in initiative states more closely reflect their state's median voter's preference than parental consent laws passed in states that prohibit initiatives, even after controlling for other population and institutional differences across states.

The Impact of State Abortion Restrictions on Minors' Demand for Abortions

This study uses a weighted least squares model and a fixed-effects model to estimate the impact of parental consent laws and laws governing Medicaid funding of abortions on the adolescents demand for abortion in the United States during 1978-90. The focus is on adolescent pregnancy because 12% of total legal abortions in 1987 were to adolescents aged under 18 years. The rate of abortion and types of abortion law range widely between states. Data are obtained from the US Center for Disease Control on reported abortions from the NARAL Foundation on the dates of actual enforcement restrictions and from the Alan Guttmacher Institute on abortion providers. The empirical model is based on a model developed by Grossman and Joyce. Proxy measures are used to represent abortion sentiment. Fixed effects models indicated that there was a decline of 13-17% in adolescents demand for abortion in states with enforced parental involvement laws compared to states without enforced laws. The results implied a 9-15% decline in adolescents demand for abortion in states that restricted Medicaid funding of abortion compared to states that did not. There was a positive association between abortion demand and income and between abortion demand and the availability of abortion providers. The inclusion of the abortion sentiment proxies did not change the signs and magnitudes of the impact very much in the fixed-effects models. It is posited that the negative impacts of abortion restrictions on adolescent abortion demand cannot be attributed to unobserved heterogeneity. Four methods of modeling are used to account for the potential role of unobserved heterogeneity.

The Impact of Requirements for Parental Consent on Minors' Abortions in Mississippi

Mississippi data for 1993 indicate that the state's new parental consent requirement had little effect on the abortion rate among minors. In a comparison of Mississippi residents who had abortions during the five months before and the six months after the law went into effect, the ratio of minors to adults who sought abortions in the state declined by 13%, a decrease offset by a 32% increase in the ratio of minors to adults who obtained abortions out of state. There was also a 28% drop in the ratio of minors to adults from other states who had abortions in Mississippi. The parental consent requirement increased by 19% the ratio of minors to adults who obtained their procedure after 12 weeks of gestation.

Missouri's parental consent law and teen pregnancy outcomes.

The Supreme Court decision of July 1989 upholding state regulation of abortion has led to numerous attempts to impose parental consent and/or parental notification legislation for females under the age of 18 seeking abortions. The effect of such legislation on teen pregnancy outcomes is hotly debated. Missouri vital statistics data from 1980 through 1992 are examined for the effect of such a law on pregnancy resolution choices among teens. The Missouri data suggest that since the enforcement of the parental consent statute in 1985 there has been a decrease in the selection of abortion as a pregnancy outcome, particularly among white teens. In addition there has been an increase in the percent of abortions among teens taking place in other states and an irregular but steady trend toward later abortions. The increasing number of births to unmarried mothers under the age of 18 suggest the need for specific services to help these young mothers cope.

Teenage Abortion, Birth and Pregnancy Statistics by State, 1988

The report provided updated estimates of teenage abortion by state in the United States for 1988 as well as pregnancy and birth rates. Teenagers were grouped at the age of pregnancy outcome. The findings revealed 400000 women pregnant under the age of 18 years and 600000 pregnant women aged 18-19 years. About 66% of the 1034000 teenagers were White. The national rate of teenage pregnancy in 1988 was 111/1000 women aged 15-19 years (53 births 43 abortions and 15 miscarriages) 113/1000 for all races and 103/1000 for Whites and 96/1000 without miscarriages. The highest rates were in California (154/1000) and the lowest in North Dakota (57/1000). Nevada (142/1000) Hawaii (134/1000) Florida (133/1000) and Maryland (129/1000) also had high rates. Low rates of 69/1000 were found in Utah Minnesota South Dakota and Iowa. The rates among 15-17 year olds were 74/1000 and rates among those 18-19 years were 164/1000. About 50% of pregnancies had a birth outcome and birth outcomes were higher among those aged 18-19 years. Abortion and birth rates did not follow the same pattern as pregnancy rates. For example in Mississippi there was a 106/1000 pregnancy rate a 73/1000 birth rate and a 16/1000 abortion rate. Other states with a high birth rate and a low abortion rate were New Mexico Arkansas Arizona Georgia and Texas. Low birth rates were found in Minnesota North Dakota Massachusetts Iowa New Hampshire and Vermont. The highest abortion rates were in California (76/1000) Hawaii (68/1000) New York (61/1000) Maryland (61/1000) and New Jersey (60/1000). Low abortion rates were in Utah (15/1000) Mississippi (16/1000) Idaho (17/1000) and West Virginia (17/1000). Birth and abortion rates by state followed similar patterns regardless of age except among women 15-17 years compared to those 18-19 years in Missouri and Rhode Island which have parental consent laws. Race data on abortion among teenagers was available for only 29 states. In general pregnancy birth and abortion rates were 2-3 times higher among non-Whites. The highest White pregnancy rates were in Arizona New Mexico and Texas with large Hispanic populations. States with low pregnancy birth and abortion rates for Whites did not always have low rates for Blacks.

The Economic Impact of State Restrictions on Abortion: Parental Consent and Notification Laws and Medicaid Funding Restrictions

State-legislative support for liberalized abortion policies, the availability of abortion providers, and actual abortion rates vary widely across states. This article uses national data to examine the impact of the following three major, enforceable state abortion restrictions as of 1988 on the access to and use of abortion services: state restrictions on Medicaid financing of abortions for low-income women (36 states), state requirements for parental consent or parental notification for minors to obtain abortions (11 states), and state restrictions on insurance coverage of abortion for public employees (8 states). The impact of state abortion restrictions is becoming an increasingly important policy issue as the number and types of restrictions which can be enforced in the US increase rapidly. The Supreme Court in Webster v. Reproductive Health Services (1989) upheld a Missouri law banning abortions in public hospitals and the involvement of public employees in the performance of abortions; states via this ruling may also enforce mandatory testing for viability after a specified point in the pregnancy. The Supreme Court then in Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey (1992) effectively ruled that states can enforce a 24-hour waiting period and a state-prescribed talk on abortion for women seeking abortion. Analysis of the data found that there are significantly fewer hospitals, clinics, and private physicians' offices providing abortions in states with parental consent or notification laws. Moreover the rate of minors' abortions per 1000 teen pregnancies is 16% lower, and the rate of minors' abortions per 1000 women aged 15-19 is 25% lower in states with such laws compared to states without the laws. Data from abortion clinics and referral services in Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Rhode Island suggest that 20-55% of minors are going to court instead of informing their parents. 35% of minors who contacted a clinic in Massachusetts and 49% in Rhode Island went out of state for abortions. As for Medicaid restrictions, there are significantly fewer hospitals, clinics, and private physicians' offices providing abortions in states which restrict funding of abortions as compared to states which do not. State restrictions on insurance coverage of abortion for public employees do not appear to be associated with statistically significant differences in abortion rates or abortion availability.

Parental Notice and Consent for Abortion: Out of Step with Family Law Principles and Policies

In 1990, the US Supreme Court in Hodgson v. Minnesota allowed a state to require, with limited exceptions, notification of both parents before a woman under 18 has an abortion, as long as the law provides a judicial bypass procedure. If the judge finds that she is mature enough to give informed consent or that notification is not in her best interest, judicial bypass permits nondisclosure to the parents. The notification requirement is contrary to many of the general principles to family law. The Minnesota statute requires physicians to notify both parents; notice to merely one parent is permissible only if the other parent is dead or cannot be located after a "reasonably diligent effort." Without the judicial bypass procedure Justice O'Connor would have invalidated the statute as unconstitutional, for conflicting with the best interests of the minor, infringing on family autonomy, and failing to foster the state's alleged goal of improving parent-child communication. We are left with a ruling that fails to protect the privacy of family decision making from government interference, fails to uphold court-ordered custody and parental decision making arrangements, fails to recognize state laws allowing minors access to medical services relating to sexual activity, and conflicts with the general rule of requiring only 1 parents' consent before a minor receives medical treatment. The parental notification law can cause serious harm, precipitating a dangerous family crisis where physical, psychological, or sexual abuse is present, and can cause delay in pursuing and abortion until it is too late to get one, causing life-long repercussions. The best interests of minors strongly argue against mandatory parental consent and notification laws.

Parental consent for abortion: impact of the Massachusetts law.

This study assessed the impact of Massachusetts' parental consent law, which requires unmarried women under age 18 to obtain parental or judicial consent before having an abortion. Data were analyzed on monthly totals of abortions and births to Massachusetts minors prior to and following the April 1981 implementation of the law. Findings indicate that half as many minors obtained abortions in the state during the 20 months after the law went into effect as had done so previously. More than 1,800 minors residing in Massachusetts traveled to five surrounding states during these 20 months to avoid the statute's mandates. This group accounts for the reduction in in-state abortions. A small number of minors (50 to 100) bore children rather than aborting during 1982, perhaps because of the law. Findings suggest that this state's parental consent law had little effect on adolescent's pregnancy-resolution behavior.

State Parental Consent Law had Little Impact on Teenage Abortion

State Parental Consent Law had Little Impact on Teenage Abortion

Abortion and Women's Health: A Meeting of the National Abortion Federation

A discussion of the difficulties faced by minors seeking abortions was 1 of the highlights of the 1982 annual meeting of the National Abortion Federation held in May. States which have enacted parental consent laws subject teenagers seeking abortion to considerable stress. Minors who do not wish to tell their parents can seek court approval, but putting teenagers through intimidating judicial proceedings creates additional emotional burdens. In Minnesota, both parents must be notified even if only 1 has custody. In rural areas most judges are unfamiliar with the law and have even refused to hear cases requesting court authorization of abortions for minors. It is rare to be able to get through the courts and have the abortion in the same week that the pregnancy is confirmed. Delays create medical risk which will become more common as states restrict minors' access to abortion. Doctors agreed that ultrasound is useful to detect fetal abnormalities or length of gestation among abortion patients. Ultrasound also detects abnormal uterine structure and whether or not evacuation is complete. The meeting included a discussion of expanding abortion facilities for 2d trimester abortions and providing other contraceptive services, including sterilization. Some centers have added artificial insemination, birthing centers, marriage and family counseling, and even adoption services. Experts agree that tubal ligation may be a suitable procedure for offices and small clinics.