Going to court is usually intimidating to even the most sophisticated adults, who generally have an attorney to represent them. For a pregnant teen to use judicial bypass, she must not only find a judge, she must work her way through a confusing legal system and face intense, sometimes judgemental, and often traumatic questioning by strangers. Indeed, the poorest, youngest, least experienced teenagers are least able to use judicial bypass, and thereby become the most likely to end up becoming teen parents or victims of black-market abortion. According to judicial bypass laws, a judge should decide whether the young woman is mature enough to make the decision to have an abortion, or whether it is in her best interests not to involve her parents. They do not address how this young woman will be able to make parental decisions for a child of her own if she is legally barred from making them for herself.
Restrictive laws give judges the power to say no to a teen's private decision to have an abortion.
Some teens may resort to a secret, unsafe, illegal or self-induced abortion if her way to a confidential, legal abortion is blocked. All such restrictions to a woman's access to safe and legal abortion rob her of her ability to take control of her life. Laws in 46 states and the District of Columbia allow mothers who are under 18 to place their children for adoption without involving their parents, but many of those same states require parental notification or consent before these young women can obtain abortions. This sets up a standard that clearly favors one resolution over another, restricts the reproductive choices of young women, and forces some to bear children that they do not want to bear. Statistical information in this fact sheet is based on research by the Alan Guttmacher Institute and the National Abortion Federation.