WASHINGTON — The US Supreme Court agreed last Monday to review a repeal of the New Hampshire law mandating parental notification before a minor girl there could obtain an abortion.
Planned Parenthood of Northern New England successfully challenged New Hampshire’s parental notification law in 2000, when a First U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston ruled the law unconstitutional because it did not have an exception for the so-called “health” of the mother.
The Supreme Court upheld a similar challenge to the Minnesota parental notification law in 1990, although in 2000 the high court ruled the partial-birth abortion ban unconstitutional because it did not include an exception for the health of the mother. The exception for health has proven to be a wide open door for abortion on demand at any stage of pregnancy, with the term health being interpreted so broadly as to make it effectively meaningless.
Citizens for Life executive director, Roger Stenson, told the Washington Times that the 1990 Supreme Court decision was virtually indistinguishable from the issue now before them. “Unless one of those justices changes their mind again,” the high court should act the same way and reverse the decision of the First Circuit to maintain the New Hampshire law,” Stenson said.
New Hampshire officials argue in their appeal that it is not necessary for the notification law to have a specific health exception, as at least 34 other state abortion laws already cover this. In addition, the 2000 partial-birth abortion ruling does not necessarily require that all abortion laws include the mother’s health exception, they said.
In Oklahoma, Governor Brad Henry signed into law pro-life legislation May 20, bringing in several measures including: parental notification, informed consent, and an unborn victims of violence clause.
More specifically, the new bill requires parental notification for minors seeking abortion; it contains an Oklahoma version of the federal Unborn Victims of Violence Act, that criminalizes acts of violence that result in death or harm to an unborn child; and a final requirement mandating that abortionists fully inform women of the risks consequent upon abortion.
“This legislation reflects a responsible approach to a very emotional issue,” the Governor said, according to a newsok.com report. “Although legal challenges will be filed against it, I believe the law will ultimately be upheld by the courts.”
The pro-abortion Center for Reproductive Rights group had already filed a lawsuit in court May 19, which was immediately dismissed by a judge there because the bill had not yet been signed into law.
(This update courtesy of LifeSiteNews.com.)
