Opinion ID: 424713
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Independent Decisionmaker

Text: 22 In the plurality opinion of Bellotti II, Justice Powell stated that a state must assign the procedure for determining whether a minor is mature to an independent decisionmaker, which could either be a court or a nonjudicial alternative such as an administrative agency or officer. 443 U.S. at 643 & n. 22, 99 S.Ct. at 3048 & n. 22 (plurality opinion of Powell, J.). The appellants contend that the statute impermissibly requires a mature minor to go to court to avoid notification because, they say, it would be less burdensome on the abortion right to delegate the maturity determination to the minor's physician. 23 Although such a procedure would be simpler, quicker, and undoubtedly less distressing for a minor than requiring her to go to court, Indiana was not constitutionally required to provide the least burdensome alternative to notification. The plurality in Bellotti II said that a state could choose to employ a nonjudicial decisionmaker, 6 but it was not required to do so. In Planned Parenthood Association v. Ashcroft, the Court upheld a state statute that provided for a judicial determination of maturity. 103 S.Ct. at 2526 (opinion of Powell, J.). In light of the Court's holding that a judicial determination of maturity is constitutional, we cannot hold that the Indiana statute is unconstitutional for having delegated the maturity determination to a court.