Opinion ID: 4433771
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Legislative Changes

Text: As a general rule, Indiana prohibits physicians from performing abortions for unemancipated minors without the written consent of the minor’s parent, legal guardian, or custodian. Ind. Code § 16-34-2-4(a). The law provides an exception, however, so that a minor who objects to the consent requirement or whose parent, guardian, or custodian refuses to consent may petition a juvenile court for a waiver of the consent requirement. Ind. Code § 16-34-2-4(b). Known as a judicial bypass, this procedure permits the minor to obtain an abortion without parental consent if the court finds either that she is mature enough to make the abortion decision independently or that an abortion is in her best interests. Ind. Code § 16-34-2-4(e). Bellotti requires this exception as a matter of federal constitutional law. 443 U.S. at 643–44 (opinion of Powell, J.); accord, Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833, 899 (1992). Bypass is supposed to be fast and confidential. Bellotti, 443 U.S. at 644 (bypass proceeding and any appeals must “be completed with anonymity and suﬃcient expedition to provide an eﬀective opportunity for an abortion to be obtained”). No. 17-2428 3 In 2017, the Indiana General Assembly enacted Public Law 173-2017, also known as Senate Enrolled Act 404, which amended the parental consent and judicial bypass statutes in several ways. This appeal focuses on one new requirement for the judicial bypass process. Even if a judge concludes that a parent need not consent to the abortion, either because the unemancipated minor is mature enough to make her own decision or because the abortion is in her best interests, and even though the bypass process is supposed to be confidential per Bellotti, parents still must be given prior notice of the planned abortion unless the judge also finds such notice is not in the minor’s “best interests.” Ind. Code § 16-34-2-4(d). The young woman’s attorney “shall serve the notice required by this subsection by certified mail or by personal service.” Id. A bypass court “shall waive the requirement of parental notification under subsection (d) if the court finds that obtaining an abortion without parental notification is in the best interests of the unemancipated pregnant minor.” Ind. Code § 16-34-2-4(e). That diﬀerence in language is important. Unlike the judicial bypass of the parental consent requirement, which may be based on either maturity or best interests, judicial bypass of notice may be based only on “best interests.”1 1 These changes make Indiana something of an outlier. Only two states, Oklahoma and Utah, have parental notice statutes that appear to be more restrictive by not including any form of judicial bypass. See Okla. Stat. Ann. tit. 63, §§ 1-744 to 1-744.6; Utah Code Ann. § 76-7-304. The Supreme Court upheld the Utah statute, but its decision does not control here because that plaintiff “made no claim or showing as to her maturity or as to her relations with her parents.” H.L. v. Matheson, 450 U.S. 398, 407 (1981); see also id. at 415–16 (Powell, J., concurring) (explaining that lack of detail about individual plaintiff’s situation had been deliberate choice consistent with seeking broad judicial remedy). 4 No. 17-2428 Out of the usual sequence for a judicial opinion, we address here one interpretive issue about the new notice requirement. We disagree with Planned Parenthood’s argument that the statute permits notice to parents even if the bypass court refuses to allow the pregnant minor to proceed without her parents’ consent. The statute requires notice to parents after a bypass hearing but “before the abortion is performed,” Ind. Code § 16-34-2-4(d). We agree with the State that the requirement to serve notice is triggered only if the judge authorizes an abortion. See Zbaraz v. Madigan, 572 F.3d 370, 383 (7th Cir. 2009) (“Where fairly possible, courts should construe a statute to avoid a danger of unconstitutionality.”), quoting Ohio v. Akron Center for Reproductive Health, 497 U.S. 502, 514 (1990). Bypass proceedings and appeals are sealed. Ind. Code § 1634-2-4(h). The new statute does not provide a legal mechanism that would allow a judge to order notice to parents of a minor’s unsuccessful attempt to seek bypass.2 In addition to the notice requirement, Public Law 173-2017 changed the consent and judicial bypass statutes in other ways. Indiana already required parents to show their consent in writing, but the new law raised that requirement. It required a physician performing an abortion for a minor not only to obtain written parental consent but also to obtain 2 The new, challenged Indiana notice requirement opens the door, however, for the minor’s parents to choose to disclose her pregnancy, her abortion, and/or the judicial bypass process to anyone they like and for any purpose they like. Cf. Planned Parenthood v. Casey, 505 U.S. at 893 (noting that many women who feared notifying their spouses of planned abortions may fear “devastating forms of psychological abuse,” including “the withdrawal of financial support, or the disclosure of the abortion to family and friends,” which “may act as even more of a deterrent to notification than the possibility of physical violence”). No. 17-2428 5 government-issued proof of identification from the consenting parent, as well as “some evidence, which may include identification or other written documentation that provides an articulable basis for a reasonably prudent person to believe that the person is the parent or legal guardian or custodian of the unemancipated pregnant minor.” Ind. Code § 16-34-2- 4(a)(3). The new law also required a physician who obtains parental consent to execute and save an aﬃdavit certifying that “a reasonable person under similar circumstances would rely on the information provided by the unemancipated pregnant minor and the unemancipated pregnant minor’s parent or legal guardian or custodian as suﬃcient evidence of identity and relationship.” Ind. Code § 16-34-2-4(k)(2). The new law also added a section imposing civil liability on anyone who “knowingly or intentionally aid[s] or assist[s] an unemancipated pregnant minor in obtaining an abortion without the consent required” by the consent statute. Ind. Code § 16-34-2-4.2(c). In the district court, the parties agreed that this provision would prohibit Planned Parenthood and its physicians from providing an unemancipated minor information regarding out-of-state abortion services which ostensibly would not require parental consent or notice. Planned Parenthood, 258 F. Supp. 3d at 934. The district court’s preliminary injunction enjoined enforcement of all of those changes. Id. at 956. In this appeal, Indiana has not challenged those portions of the injunction, so we do not discuss them further. Returning to the disputed new parental notice requirement in the judicial bypass procedure, it is relevant that Indiana law authorizes both criminal penalties and professional licensing sanctions against abortion providers and their employees for violating portions of Indiana’s abortion law. E.g., 6 No. 17-2428 Ind. Code § 16-34-2-7(b) (physician who intentionally or knowingly performs abortion in violation of Ind. Code § 1634-2-4 commits Class A misdemeanor); Ind. Code § 25-1-9- 4(a)(2)-(3) (Indiana Medical Licensing Board may discipline physicians who commit crimes); 410 Ind. Admin. Code § 26- 2-8(b)(2) (abortion facilities, like some Planned Parenthood facilities, are subject to license revocation or discipline for “permitting, aiding, or abetting the commission of any illegal act in an abortion clinic”). Before the new law took eﬀect, Planned Parenthood brought this lawsuit against several defendants in their oﬃcial capacities: the Commissioner of the Indiana State Department of Health, the prosecutors of Marion, Lake, Monroe, and Tippecanoe Counties, the members of the Indiana Medical Licensing Board, and the judge of the Juvenile Division of the Marion Superior Court (collectively, the “State”). The State appeals the portion of the preliminary injunction against the new parental notice requirement.