Opinion ID: 738528
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Constitutionality of La. R.S. 40:1299.35.5(B)(5)

Text: 79 Section 1299.35.5(B)(5) provides, among other things, that the juvenile court shall notify the parent(s) or legal guardian if the court determines that such notification is in the minor's best interest. The plaintiffs contend, and the district court agreed, that § 1299.35.5(B)(5) does not satisfy Bellotti II 's anonymity requirement. The State, on the other hand, contends that § 1299.35.5(B)(5) comports with Bellotti II. The State relies on the following language in Bellotti II for this conclusion: 80 [T]he court may deny the abortion request of an immature minor in the absence of parental consultation if it concludes that her best interests would be served thereby, or the court may in such a case defer decision until there is parental consultation in which the court may participate. 81 Bellotti II, 443 U.S. at 648, 99 S.Ct. at 3050-51 (emphasis added). From this statement, the State argues that the Bellotti II Court seem[ed] to encourage [parental notification], if the courts believe to do so is in the minors [sic ] best interest. We agree with the district court and conclude that the State is mistaken. 82 As the plaintiffs and the district court correctly note, this language from Bellotti II in no way permits the independent bypass decisionmaker to contact a minor's parents, inform them that their minor daughter is seeking an abortion without their consent, and then ask the parents to participate in the process of deciding whether the abortion would be in the minor's best interest. We read the statement from Bellotti II to mean that a Louisiana juvenile court can refuse to authorize a minor's abortion if parental notification is in the minor's best interest, or the court may wait until the minor herself seeks parental consultation, and then, with both the parents' and minor's input, determine whether an abortion is in the minor's best interest. 83 Any other interpretation of this language--or shall we say, the State's interpretation--would cut the core out of Bellotti II. If Bellotti II means anything, it surely means that States seeking to regulate minors' access to abortion must offer a credible bypass procedure, independent of parents or legal guardians, in a parental consent statute like the one in Louisiana. Plainly, the State has attempted to enter through the proverbial back door by suggesting that the best-interest-of-the-minor inquiry cannot arbitrarily exclude the input of parents or a legal guardian. Although the Supreme Court has recognized that bypass decisionmakers can consider whether parental notification would be in the best interest of the minor, Bellotti II, 443 U.S. at 640, 99 S.Ct. at 3046-47, and that complete anonymity is not required, Akron II, 497 U.S. at 513, 110 S.Ct. at 2980, the Court has not held that anonymity may give way to parental notification in bypass statutes. 84 The Supreme Court's decision in H.L. v. Matheson, 450 U.S. 398, 101 S.Ct. 1164, 67 L.Ed.2d 388 (1981) is not to the contrary. There, the Court upheld a parental notification provision, reasoning that a statute setting out a 'mere requirement of parental notice' does not violate the constitutional rights of an immature, dependent minor. Id. at 409, 101 S.Ct. at 1171. Because the Court has yet to address the question of whether a bypass procedure is required for parental notification statutes, we do not read Matheson to hold that parental notification is an exception to the Bellotti II anonymity requirement. Indeed, if we were to agree with the State that Matheson modified the anonymity requirement in Bellotti II, we would create an exception that swallows the rule. The central thrust of Bellotti II was to ensure that minors who could not or would not seek the consent of a parent or legal guardian have access to a bypass procedure that would ensure anonymity from parents who may obstruct both an abortion and their access to court. Bellotti II, 443 U.S. at 647, 99 S.Ct. at 3050. By requiring a juvenile court judge to notify a minor's parents if the judge finds that doing so would be in the minor's best interest, Louisiana has undermined the independent bypass procedure prescribed in Bellotti II. 85 We affirm the district court's conclusion that subsection (5) of § 1299.35.5(B) is inconsistent with Bellotti II 's anonymity requirement.