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Young Women's Rights
Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood of Northern New England
In October 2005, the Women's Law Project, in conjunction with Howrey,
LLP in Washington, DC, filed an
amicus brief in the Supreme Court on behalf of nine groups committed to preserving
minors' access to reproductive health services in emergency medical situations.
The brief was filed in the case of Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood of Northern
New England, in which the Supreme Court heard oral arguments on November
30, 2005. At issue in the case was New Hampshire's law requiring parental notice
for minors seeking abortion services. The law had no exception for emergency
medical situations, so both federal courts that have looked at the case have struck
down the law as violating basic principles of constitutional law previously
laid out by the Supreme Court. The state argued, among other things, that any
minor facing an emergency medical situation could go to a judge to get a judicial
bypass so she could have the abortion. Our amicus brief, drawing on basic law in
the field as well as the experiences of other states with judicial bypass systems
in place, explained that requiring court permission for emergency abortions would
create an unwarranted and unwise exception to the general rule permitting doctors
to act in emergency situations, one that would nessarily create delay and threaten
minors' health.
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