Summary
This bill would require 48 hours notice to one custodial parent prior to abortions performed on unemancipated children under age 18, or, in the alternative, a family court waiver of parental notification.

Conference Position
The Catholic Conference supports enactment of this legislation.

Rationale
In New York State, parents are required by law to give permission when their minor child has a tooth drilled or bone x-rayed, but they do not even have to be notified when their daughter is pregnant and considering the invasive surgery of abortion. Surely, parents have a right to know of a medical decision that could affect their daughter physically and emotionally for the rest of her life.

Because 90 percet of abortions in New York State occur in outpatient clinics, a girl is unlikely to have the benefit of conferring with a trusted family physician about her decision. Parental notification laws help to ensure that those who know her best talk to her about her medical history, the risks of abortion and the alternatives available.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that parental notification laws for abortions performed on minors are constitutionally permissible. Thirty-five states have enacted parental involvement laws and the majority of these laws require parental consent rather than notification.

Tragedies such as the Dawn Ravenell case highlight the need for a parental involvement law. Dawn was a 13 year old Queens girl who died in a licensed Manhattan clinic in 1985 following a badly botched abortion. Her parents had no chance to protect their daughter’s life.

In September of 1995, a Pennsylvania woman was charged with transporting a 13-year-old girl from Pennsylvania to New York to obtain an abortion without her parents’ knowledge. Pennsylvania law requires parental consent for abortions performed on girls under age 18.

Repeated polls show Americans overwhelmingly support parental involvement laws. An August 2005 Pew Research Center Poll found 73 percent of Americans favor parental consent prior to a minor’s abortion. In New York State, a 1998 Quinnipiac College poll found voters support, by a 66-29 percent margin, parental consent before a teenager’s abortion.