New Mexico Blocks 20-Week Ban, Parental Involvement Bills

A bit of good news: last week, after four hours of debate, the New Mexico Senate Public Affairs Committee blocked two extreme, politically-motivated anti-choice bills. The bills would have banned abortion care after 20 weeks and would have required patients under 18 years old to notify their parents at least 48 hours before they could…

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Wednesday’s Words from Women

I have always been pro-choice and I have always kept myself informed about my options when it came to reproductive health care. I never thought I would have to use the information until I found out I was pregnant. I am a 22-year-old college student and I live with my parents. I work as a…

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Guest Column by NAF Board Member

NAF Board Member Caitlin Borgmann, JD, is a featured guest columnist on the legal news and research site JURIST. Borgmann writes that parental notification “laws like the one that will now be enforced in Illinois do nothing to help teenagers, while imposing traumatic hurdles, and sometimes grave danger, on those who lack loving and supportive…

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U.S. Appeals Court Upholds Illinois Parental Notification Law

A U.S. Appeals Court ruled last week that an Illinois law requiring doctors to notify a parent or adult family member at least 48 hours prior to a minor obtaining abortion care is constitutional. The three-judge panel found that state Supreme Court rules, which establish judicial procedures for an expedited bypass hearing, satisfy minors’ constitutional…

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Arizona Governor Approves Abortion Restrictions

On Monday, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer (R) approved a measure establishing new mandates and restrictions on abortion in the state. One of the provisions requires that all women wait 24 hours after receiving state-mandated information to obtain abortion care. This type of biased counseling legislation is medically unnecessary and does not respect women. Abortion providers…

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California Voters Reject Proposition 4

Parental notification laws like Proposition 4 endanger the health and safety of teens. Today, California voters once again rejected this type of dangerous barrier for teens attempting to access abortion care. While parents rightly want to be involved in the decisions of their teenage daughters, good family communication cannot be legislated. California already leads the…

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Lawsuit Demands Removal of Misleading Information from California Voter Guide

Friday, Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California and other groups filed a lawsuit to remove misleading language about a parental notification ballot initiative from material submitted for the official voter guide. The language in question includes a story used by supporters of the initiative to justify the legislation, although Planned Parenthood argues that parental notification would…

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Grand Jury Refuses to Indict Kansas Clinic

Yesterday, a grand jury refused to issue an indictment against a Kansas Planned Parenthood clinic concerning allegations of parental notice and informed consent violations. “We are once again vindicated, as we have been any time there is an objective review of these allegations,” said Peter Brownlie, president and chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood of…

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New Hampshire Law Makers Seek to Reinstate Parental Notification Law

In New Hampshire, two legislators are drafting bills that would restore the state’s parental notification law. This summer New Hampshire was the first state to repeal its parental notification law. The legislators said their bills would enact a slightly different version of the law that was repealed. The repealed law never took effect because of…

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