Teen Abortion Access Remains Difficult Even in States Where Access is Protected

BY RACHEL JANFAZA
MARCH 11, 2024

A state like Massachusetts is considered a safe haven for abortion in a post-Dobbs America. But a first-of-its-kind report about national abortion access for youth from Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts’ ASPIRE Center for Sexual & Reproductive Health released on Monday called “The Minor Abortion Access Research and Advocacy Project” reveals that there are stark gaps in reproductive health care availability for minors – even in states that have expanded abortion access since the reversal of Roe v. Wade.

The group’s research found that oftentimes, parental involvement laws – which mandate minors’ parental permission before an abortion – or the judicial bypass process – which requires teens to go through the court system if they cannot ask their parents for consent to an abortion – stand between teens under the age of 18 and abortion, hindering young people’s bodily autonomy despite state policies meant to enhance reproductive health care access.

Continued: https://www.teenvogue.com/story/teen-abortion-access-remains-difficult-even-in-states-where-access-is-protected

Canada – Mysterious robocall survey polling Albertans on parental consent for abortions

Mark Villani and Brendan Ellis, CTV News
Feb. 2, 2024

A mysterious phone survey is making the rounds in Alberta, asking residents if minors should need parental consent to get an abortion -- but it's not clear who initiated the campaign. Many Albertans started receiving the call on Thursday night.

"Minors do not, however, require the consent of their parents to get an abortion in Alberta, nor is it required for parents to even be notified about their minor child's abortion," part of the pre-recorded message said.

Continued: https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/mysterious-robocall-survey-polling-albertans-on-parental-consent-for-abortions-1.6754063

Abortion rights are on a winning streak at the ballot box. Ohio could test that.

Abortion rights have won on the ballot in red states before, but here's how Ohio's Issue 1 measure is different.

Grace Panetta
October 10, 2023

COLUMBUS, Ohio — On a cloudy recent Friday morning, thousands of protestors descended on the Ohio statehouse for the March for Life, many holding signs with sayings like, “Ohio is Pro-Life” and “Vote No on Issue 1.” That measure, Issue 1, would guarantee a constitutional right to an abortion and other reproductive health care.

All eyes were on Ohio, said Jeanne Mancini, president of the national anti-abortion March for Life. They were at a “cultural crossroads, she said, and Ohioians would be judged on their vote on November 7.

Continued: https://19thnews.org/2023/10/ohio-issue-1-abortion-ballot-measure-november/

Danish teenager soon can go for abortion at 15

The age limit for abortion should be lowered from 18 to 15, says the Danish government. According to critics, this proposal drives parents to the sidelines. "Parents have to be involved."

30-05-2023
CNE.news

It has been fifty years since Denmark legalised abortion. And on that 50th anniversary, Marie Bjerre, the Minister for Equality, announced that the age limit for abortion without parental consent would be lowered from 18 to 15. "The government wants young women to be able to decide over their own bodies and lives. They must be able to make the choice themselves about whether to have an abortion."

Various people welcomed Bjerre's statement. Charlotte Wilken-Jensen, a chief physician at an obstetrics department, believes that it is a "crazy good idea": "We have a society where the sexual minimum age is 15, and to imagine that young people, who can have sex with each other quite legitimately, cannot also have the right to terminate an unwanted pregnancy, does not add up."

Continued: https://cne.news/article/3124-danish-teenager-soon-can-go-for-abortion-at-15

30.05.2023

News

. Charlotte Wilken-Jensen

age limit for abortion

Marie Bjerre

Øjvind Lidegaard

parental consent for abortion

parental involvement for abortion

Spain approves menstrual leave, teen abortion and trans laws

BY JENNIFER O’MAHONY AND CIARÁN GILES, ASSOCIATED PRESS
MARCH 1, 2023

MADRID — The Spanish parliament on Thursday approved legislation expanding abortion and transgender rights for teenagers, while making Spain the first country in Europe that will entitle workers to paid menstrual leave.

The driving force behind the two laws was Equality Minister Irene Montero of United We Can, the junior party in Spain’s left-wing coalition government.

Continued: https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2023-03-01/spain-approves-menstrual-leave-teen-abortion-trans-laws

01.03.2023

parental consent for abortion

Spain votes to approve a new law to introduce paid ‘menstrual leave’ for painful periods

By Euronews and AFP
Updated: 15/12/2022

Spanish lawmakers adopted on Thursday a new bill creating a menstrual leave for women suffering from painful periods and strengthening access to abortion in public hospitals.

This text was adopted by deputies in the lower house of the Spanish parliament on its first reading, with 190 votes in favour, 154 against, and 5 abstentions. It will now go to the Senate.

"This legislature is a legislature of feminist conquests," Irene Montero, Spain's Minister of Equality and a member of the radical left-wing Podemos, a party allied with socialist prime minister Pedro Sanchez's government, told the Congress of Deputies.

Continued: https://www.euronews.com/next/2022/12/15/spain-votes-to-approve-a-new-law-to-introduce-paid-menstrual-leave-for-painful-periods

15.12.2022

parental consent for abortion

USA – Long uncertain, young people’s access to abortion is more complicated than ever

Megan Burbank | NPR
August 13th, 2022

For
decades, young people have faced major barriers to abortion because of state
laws requiring parental involvement in the decision to terminate a pregnancy.
But now that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s
Health Organization — and the federal right to an abortion is gone — access is
even more complex for adolescents.

In states where abortion is heavily restricted, advocates are fighting back:
They’re shoring up legal support for young women seeking abortion and taking to
social media platforms like TikTok to counter misinformation.
https://www.wabe.org/long-uncertain-young-peoples-access-to-abortion-is-more-complicated-than-ever

USA – A process that allows minors to get an abortion could disappear if Roe falls

June 14, 2022
Ailsa Chang, Jonaki Mehta, Sarah Handel

B was at her partner's house one day when she had a gut instinct, a churning feeling inside her body that led her to take a pregnancy test.

"I kind of went robotic and shut everything out, any emotions or anything," she said. "I felt like my whole life was going to go down the drain because that's how society portrays it."

https://www.npr.org/2022/06/14/1104649399/scotus-roe-v-wade-abortion-minors-law-texas

14.06.2022

judicial bypass for minors

parental consent

parental consent for abortion

parental notification

With Roe set to fall, minors seeking abortion have few choices left

June 8, 2022
Ailsa Chang, Jonaki Mehta, Sarah Handel 8-Minute Listen with Transcript

NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with Rosann Mariappuram of Jane's Due Process about the impact Roe's fall would have on abortion access for minors. A teenager shares her experience navigating judicial bypass.

AILSA CHANG, HOST:
As we await the Supreme Court decision that's likely to drop later this month, potentially overturning federal abortion protections across this country, we wanted to talk about some of the most vulnerable people who do seek abortions - minors. And we're going to start with a story of a young woman in Texas whom we will call B. That's her first initial. She's not ready for her family to know her story. B was 17 in her senior year of high school back at the end of 2020. She was at her partner's house one day when she had a sinking feeling.

Continued: https://www.npr.org/2022/06/08/1103785044/with-roe-set-to-fall-minors-seeking-abortion-have-few-choices-left

Exceptions to Abortion Bans May Be Hard for Women to Access

‘In terms of how these things work in practice, they don't,’ says one expert regarding exceptions to abortion bans due to rape or health risk.

By Sharon Lurye
June 3, 2022

Abortion is a divisive issue in America’s culture, but there is something that the country largely agrees on: Even if a state bans abortion, four out of five Americans agree that there should be exceptions to the law if the mother’s life or health is in danger, and for victims of rape and incest.

Yet people rarely discuss how such exceptions would work in the real world. Who would decide whether a pregnant person’s life is truly at risk? What would survivors need to do to prove they were assaulted? A close reading of anti-abortion laws in 18 states reveals that even with these legal safeguards in place, many people will still face significant hurdles to getting an abortion in cases of rape, incest and medical emergencies.

Continued: https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/2022-06-03/why-exceptions-to-abortion-bans-may-be-hard-for-women-to-access