Alaska Supreme Court to Review Injunction on State’s Teen Abortion Law

WHAT: Oral arguments will be heard at the Alaska Supreme Court in Planned Parenthood of Alaska, et. al. v. State of Alaska.

The Supreme Court will review the Superior Court of the State of Alaska’s 2003 decision to strike down Alaska’s Parental Consent Before Minor’s Abortion law. The lawsuit was originally brought by the Alaska Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Reproductive Rights on behalf of Planned Parenthood of Alaska and Dr. Jan Whitefield.

Janet Crepps of the Center for Reproductive Rights will present the oral arguments.

WHEN: Wednesday, April 13, 2005 at 1:30 p.m. (Alaska Time)

WHERE: Boney Courthouse, Fifth Floor Courtroom, 303 K Street, Anchorage, AL.

For directions, please call the Clerk’s Office at (907) 264-0612.

BACKGROUND: In 1997, the Alaska legislature passed the Parental Consent Before Minor’s Abortion law, which requires a minor seeking an abortion to obtain the consent of a parent before having the procedure. The Alaska Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Reproductive Rights challenged the legislation shortly thereafter. Since that time, the Alaska state superior court has struck the law down twice as unconstitutional-in 1998 and in 2003. The court ruled both times that the law violates minors’ rights to equal protection under the state constitution, meaning that under this legislation, minors would be required to involve a parent only in their decision to have an abortion but not in other medical decisions, such as carrying a pregnancy to term. The courts have blocked the enforcement of the law since its enactment.

Learn more about adolescents’ reproductive rights.