- #Judicial consent for minors seeking marriage professional#
- #Judicial consent for minors seeking marriage free#
We used data from a retrospective observational cohort study among adolescents (aged ≤17 years) who sought abortion services at PPLM) clinics between 20. We set out to fill this gap using data from a cohort of minors who underwent judicial bypass in Massachusetts over a 5-year period. In addition, there are direct costs associated with obtaining judicial bypass, such as missed schooling, lost wages, and transportation costs.Īlthough the physical and psychological consequences of undergoing bypass have begun to be illuminated in the research literature, the financial cost of compliance with these laws has yet to be documented. 6 Delays from parental involvement laws may result in costlier abortion procedures for some young people. Those who obtain judicial bypass have an average additional delay of 6.1 days compared with those with parental consent, but for one in five minors receiving bypass, this process takes 21 days or longer. 3, 6, 7 Our prior research demonstrated that Massachusetts' parental involvement law delays care for minors seeking abortion. Literature on judicial bypass is limited, but prior research has found the process to be associated with out-of-state travel for abortion, 4, 5 psychological distress among young people who have undergone the process, and clinically significant delays in abortion care. These hearings take place on weekdays during standard work and school hours. Attorneys schedule a confidential hearing with a judge at a Massachusetts Superior Court and accompany their client throughout the process ( Fig. Upon deciding to seek judicial bypass, a young person is connected to a care navigator who then assigns them to legal representation from a statewide panel of specially trained attorneys at no cost.
#Judicial consent for minors seeking marriage free#
In Massachusetts, young people seeking judicial bypass can obtain free legal representation through a statewide care navigation program housed at Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts (PPLM). 2, 3 In most states, this process takes the form of a judicial bypass, whereby a young person must petition a judge to be ruled mature enough to make the abortion decision on her own, without parental involvement. Baird decisions, parental involvement laws are permitted so long as young people are able to bypass this requirement through an external process. 2 Legal challenges to Massachusetts' law have established the standard for constitutionality against which all state-level parental involvement laws have been judged.Īccording to the U.S.
1 Among the oldest of these laws is Massachusetts' parental consent law, which requires the consent of at least one parent for all youth aged 17 years and below (excepting those who are married, widowed, or divorced), and which has been in effect since 1981. Thirty-seven states currently enforce parental involvement laws for legal minors obtaining abortion care. Additional out-of-pocket costs for bypass were 20.2% of their household's maximum monthly income.Ĭonclusions: These analyses show that judicial bypass as a function of parental involvement laws correlates with increased costs to individual minors and to the public, with the heaviest burden placed on minors of low socioeconomic status. In total, 74% of minors in our cohort were insured through Medicaid at the time of their abortion. The majority of this cost was due to increased average procedure costs solely due to delays in care incurred by judicial bypass (range $0 to $5,200.50).
The direct out-of-pocket cost amounted to $84,370.23 ($179.89 per abortion). Results: The total added cost of judicial bypass in our cohort amounted to $374,982.04 (median cost of $705.14 per abortion).
#Judicial consent for minors seeking marriage professional#
We assessed the direct financial burden of judicial bypass among 449 minors accounting for direct public legal costs, private professional costs, cost of lost school, and cost to the young person. Methods: We used data from a retrospective observational cohort study among adolescents (aged ≤17 years old) who sought abortion services at Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts (PPLM) between 20. Although such laws are widespread, the financial cost of their enforcement has yet to be documented. states enforce parental involvement laws that require minors seeking abortion to obtain parental consent, or else obtain judicial bypass through the court system.