Forty-nine states and the District of Columbia give minors the authority to consent to the diagnosis and treatment of sexually transmitted infections. Many of these laws allow minors to give consent to treatments that involve greater medical risk than a first-trimester abortion, such as surgical interventions during pregnancy and Caesarean sections. Nevertheless, many of these same states require parental consent for abortion. A minority of teenagers do not involve their parents. They make this decision because such involvement would not be in their best interests.
Some states go as far as to require the notification of both parents.
These statues ignore the realities of teenagers' lives. An even greater number of children live with a single parent subsequent to divorce 6.6 million in 1994. In Minnesota, more than one-quarter of the teenagers who sought judicial bypass were accompanied by one parent, who was most often divorced or separated. Even if a teenager is able and willing to involve one or both parents, the procedures required by some state parental consent or notification laws make compliance impossible for some, if not most, teenagers. Requiring that teenagers either obtain notarized evidence that parents have been notified, or present a death certificate for a deceased parent may present impossible logistical barriers for a young teenager or cause serious delay.