A state lawmaker wants stronger proof that parents or guardians that give permission for a minor to have an abortion really are parents or guardians.
Missouri already requires written permission from a parent or guardian for a minor to have an abortion. The proposal would require that permission be notarized and kept on file in the doctor’s office for at least seven years.
Kerry Messer with the Missouri Family Network says there’s no way to know if anyone would pose as a minor’s parent or guardian in that situation.
“Right now the state has no protocol in place. We have no idea how many minor children are getting abortions in this state where someone pretending to be the parent is accompanying the child,” said Messer.
Sarah Rossi with ACLU says the bill would not be likely to stand up to a court challenge.
“I can’t imagine a world where this many hurdles, this many privacy violations, this many requirements for a parent, this many requirements for a physician, this many requirements for a teenage girl who’s already deciding to make this decision, to figure out what she’s going to do in this very difficult situation, I can’t imagine that this bill would be held up as something that is not an undue burden on that process,” said Rossi.
The bill has been heard by a House committee but no vote has been taken on it.
