Opinion ID: 2015657
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Psychological Harms

Text: The answer to the third question, whether compliance with Public Law 187's informed consent provisions may be excused when compliance threatens to cause the woman severe psychological harm, is affirmative. Such circumstances are covered by the exception, assuming they are not temporary, as our answer to the previous question indicates. Plaintiffs draw a distinction between mental process and bodily function which they maintain is irreconcilable. Mental processes are done by the brain, of course, and the brain is an organ, so mental processes are bodily functions even though they are not mechanical or chemical. Persons who suffer mental health injuries are often substantially and irreversibly disabled. A woman faced with this risk may be excused from compliance with the informed consent requirements when her physician concludes through good faith clinical judgment that an abortion is medically indicated. It is also possible that a woman may suffer long term emotional or psychological injury from making an ill-informed decision to abort a pregnancy. The legislature has attempted to ensure that women receive the best information available when making this decision and to provide an exception when the information is not helpful because an abortion is medically necessary. Public Law 187's medical emergency exception excuses a woman from the informed consent requirement when there is a significant threat to her life or health, physical and mental.