Notice to parents vetoed

By MATTHEW SPOLAR

Monitor staff

Last modified: 6/16/2011 12:00:00 AM

In the face of a veto-proof legislative majority, Gov. John Lynch last night rejected a parental notification bill - requiring underage girls to tell their parents or a judge before they get an abortion - because he said it doesn't go far enough to protect victims of rape, incest or abuse.



House Bill 329 requires 48-hour written notice to the parents or guardians of un-emancipated girls under 18, informing them that their child is having an abortion. If the young woman does not want to notify her parents, she must appear before a judge who determines whether "the pregnant minor is mature and capable of giving informed consent to the proposed abortion."



In his veto message, Lynch said he supports parental notification and parental involvement in a minor's decision to seek an abortion.



"Minors need and benefit from the support and guidance of their parents," Lynch said. "However, any law must make reasonable allowances for cases where that is not possible."



The Democratic governor said he is "particularly troubled" by the bill's lack of an exception for the victims of rape, incest and abuse. He said 16 of 36 states that require some form of parental involvement have such an exception, arguing that "a young woman should not be forced to involve the person that abused her in the first place in this decision."



"If the Legislature works with me on this change and the other limited, commonsense changes outlined in this message, I would sign parental notification legislation," Lynch said.



Lynch's support for an amended bill didn't appease House Majority Leader D.J. Bettencourt, a Republican from Salem. The Republican-dominated Legislature has already shown it has the two-thirds majority necessary in both houses to override Lynch's veto.



"I am disappointed that our governor has turned his back on the parents of New Hampshire by vetoing legislation that supports their right to know when their minor daughter chooses to have an abortion," Bettencourt said. "This is infuriating to House leadership who had received a verbal commitment from the governor that he would work with us on parental notification language that he could agree with."



Parental notification has a contentious history in New Hampshire. In 2003, the Legislature passed a parental notification law backed by Republican Gov. Craig Benson, but a federal judge found it unconstitutional because it did not have an exception to protect the health of the mother. The ruling was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, where it was sent back to a lower court to see if it could be reworked to provide a health exception.



Democrats repealed the law in 2007 before it could take effect.



This time, the bill's supporters say, it has everything needed to ensure its constitutionality. A young girl does not have to notify her parents if the abortion is due to a "medical emergency," defined as a condition that requires an immediate abortion "to avert her death or for which a delay will create serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function."



But Lynch said the bill's health exception "requires a physician to determine in a very short time frame that a delay will create a serious risk of a substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function." The bill says parents do not have to be notified if the medical emergency leaves insufficient time to give the 48-hour written notice.



"That standard is narrow, complex and unworkable," Lynch said.



Lynch also said the bill "subjects medical professionals to potential imprisonment and civil lawsuits without giving medical providers sufficient guidance on how to comply with the law."



"The law should include clear standards on what information must be collected from the minor and what records should be kept," he said.



Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, which challenged the 2003 law, applauded Lynch's veto.



"Governor Lynch has taken a strong stand on behalf of New Hampshire teens who need access to safe and confidential health care when faced with an unintended pregnancy and an abusive or troubled home life," senior policy adviser Jennifer Frizzell said in a statement.



Frizzell said young women "should be able to turn to trusted medical professionals, and not to the judicial system, in order to fully explore pregnancy options and seek appropriate medical care without risk to their health and safety."



(Matthew Spolar can be reached at 369-3309 or mspolar@cmonitor.com.)





