NOW - NEW YORK STATE OPPOSE MEMO
A2560 (Reilich) -
Parental Notification for Abortion Procedure
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The National Organization for Women – New York State, Inc. opposes bill
A2560 which would require parental notice prior to the performance of an abortion
upon an unemancipated minor. By limiting a young woman’s access to safe
and legal abortion, this legislation violates the fundamental constitutional
right to privacy concerning reproductive choice and poses substantial health
risks to young women.
Teens will be deterred from seeking medical counseling and procedures at clinics
if parental consent is required for them to receive abortions. Not only will
pregnant teens be more likely to seek dangerous and illegal abortion procedures,
non-pregnant teens may be discouraged from seeking the counseling, birth control,
or medical attention required to prevent unwanted pregnancies, or to thwart
or treat sexually transmitted diseases. The American Medical Association has
noted that “the need for privacy may be compelling, and minors may be
driven to desperate measures to maintain the confidentiality of their pregnancies.
They may run away from home, obtain a ‘back alley’ abortion, or
resort to self-induced abortion. The desire to maintain secrecy has been one
of the leading reasons for illegal abortion deaths since…1973.”
Medical risks also exist in the potential delays in aborting a pregnancy or
in the choice to deliver the child, both of which may result from parental
notification laws. Each day that an abortion is delayed, the risks involved
in performing the procedure increase. Additionally, teens are 24 times more
likely to die from childbirth than from a legal abortion performed in the first
trimester. Unemancipated minors may be forced by parents to carry a child against
their will and in opposition to their safety, or they may face being disowned
or abused by parents as a result of their pregnancies. A study conducted by
Planned Parenthood found that the majority of minors who had abortions discussed
their plans voluntarily with at least one parent before undergoing the procedure.
As a group which successfully overturned the California notification legislation
noted, “the statute operates only on young women who do not consult their
parents with the news of pregnancy because the family is unsupportive, in crisis,
dysfunctional, or abusive….For these young women, the statute tests the
already difficult relationship between parent and child, undermining the very
goals it purports to promote.” The consequent results of abandonment
or ill-treatment certainly are not in the interest of protecting women or families.
It has been clearly shown that consent statutes accomplish no positive end.
Good family communication cannot be fostered where it does not already exist,
and those pregnant teens who find themselves unable to discuss their reproductive
choices with their parents often do not for good reason. Instead of helping
families, mandatory parental consent statutes intrude into family affairs,
punish those who have poor family relationships, and increase the health risks
which endanger young pregnant women.
The proposed bill A3217 is simply another attempt to limit minors’ access
to safe health care. The National Organization for Women – New York State,
Inc. strongly urges the New York State Legislature to oppose this dangerous
legislation.
Marcia A. Pappas, President, NOW-NYS, Inc.
Dorothy Jiji, Chair, Reproductive Rights Task Force
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