Religious Views on Mandatory Parental Involvement Diverse religious denominations have taken official positions against mandatory parental involvement laws as potentially dangerous to young women. While we hope all young women will voluntarily involve family members in a decision about a pregnancy, we know that this is impossible for some. In families where abusive relationships or other problems prevent good communication between parents and their teenage daughters, state-mandated discussions can worsen existing problems. For battered teenagers and incest survivors in particular, mandatory parental involvement laws increase the risks in an already dangerous situation.

The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice has compiled the positions of some of our member organizations (in addition, we include the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America).

Statements by Jewish Groups
· While encouraging parental involvement concerning family planning services for minors, we oppose any effort that would require parental notification or consent. (American Jewish Congress, 1989)

· The Union for Reform Judaism supports minors' access to reproductive health services, including contraceptives and abortion, unrestricted by parental notification, parental permission, or other court order requirements. (1975, Reaffirmed 1981, 1990)

· We support the right of minors to obtain a safe and legal abortion without parental notification, as most of these young girls who need it most do not have appropriate role models. (Conservative Judaism, Public Policy Commission of the Leadership Council, 1996)

· We regard such requirements as parental consent or notification…to be thinly disguised methods of restricting women's access to abortion. (Women's American ORT, 1989)

Statements by Protestant Denominations
· If a law requires parental consent when the woman is a minor, it should specify other trusted adults as alternatives if parental involvement is inappropriate or unsafe. (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, 1991)

· The 70th General Convention of the Episcopal Church opposed efforts to legislate notification or consent requirements, unless they allowed for non-judicial bypass. Minors who feel they cannot notify their parents may be put at serious physical, psychological or emotional risk by these requirements. Some other responsible adult such as a clergy person, teacher, guidance counselor, mental health professional or other family member may be better able to provide guidance. (1991)

· Parental support is crucially important and desirable when a young woman has a sexually transmitted disease or may be pregnant, but needed treatment ought not be contingent on such support. The states should make provisions in law and practice for treating minors as adults in such cases, thereby eliminating the legal necessity for notifying parents or guardians prior to care and treatment. (United Methodist Church, The Resolution on Responsible Parenthood, 1988)

Unitarian Universalist Statement
· The Unitarian Universalist General Assembly urged the enactment of legislation that will ensure that birth control information and counseling about problem pregnancy options, including abortion, be made available to women without parental notification or consent. (1991)

GENERAL FACTS

· Seventy-five percent of teens under the age of 16 already involve one or both parents in their decision about abortion. Teens who cannot involve their parents often have compelling reasons such as emotional or physical abuse, incest, and feelings of shame and guilt for being raped.

· According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, one third of teenagers who do not tell their parents about a pregnancy have already been the victims of family violence—physical, emotional, and sexual abuse—and fear it will recur.

· Along with the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association opposes mandatory parental involvement requirements for abortion, recognizing that individual minors, not the government, are in the best position to determine when parental involvement is appropriate.

· A 2004 study, published in the American Journal of Public Health, found that requiring teenagers to receive parental permission before obtaining prescription contraceptives from public health clinics may lead to an increase in teen pregnancies. The study was conducted in McHenry County, Illinois, after a parental consent law went into effect in 1998. It found that there were significantly more births between 1998 and 2000 to teenagers in the county than to teens in neighboring counties. They also found a slight decline in the relative number of abortions obtained by women under age 20 in McHenry County. Another study, in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), found that half of teen girls would stop visiting family planning clinics if a parental consent requirement were imposed. Some teens also said they would stop using any form of contraception but continue to have sex.

44 states restrict young women’s access to abortion by mandating parental notice or consent: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virignia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming. (10 of these laws have been found unconstitutional by courts and cannot be enforced: Arkansas, California, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico.) (Source: NARAL Pro-Choice America)

January 10, 2006