Robert King

robert.king@indystar.com

When a pregnant minor seeks an abortion in Indiana without her parents' consent, she has one option: a hearing involving her attorney and a juvenile court judge who decides whether she is mature enough to make the decision for herself.

A bill that advanced in the Indiana Senate on Wednesday would give her parents the right to enter the courtroom and even testify on whether she is competent to make the decision.

Supporters of Senate Bill 404 say parents should have a role in deciding their daughter's well-being and whether she can undergo a surgical procedure such as an abortion. Opponents say requiring parent involvement could push pregnant minors into dangerous situations because their greatest fear is often being disowned by their families.

The bill also would give parents the right to sue adults who help their child get an abortion without their consent. And it opens up abortion doctors to potentially losing their medical licenses if they fail to properly inform the state when they provide an abortion to a girl younger than 16.

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The bill, approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee on a 6-4 vote, is the latest front in the bitter battle over abortion rights in Indiana. It drew support from a constellation of groups opposed to abortion — Indiana Right to Life, the Indiana Catholic Conference, the Indiana Family Institute and the American Family Association of Indiana. It was opposed by Planned Parenthood, the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana, family law attorneys, a pediatrician and a doctor of adolescent medicine.

The scope of the war is evident in the language of the bill. Corrine Purvis, an attorney with Indiana Right to Life, said passages were adapted from a law in Missouri. Other provisions have been adopted by as many as 15 states.

The point of the effort, Purvis said, is that "Parents have the constitutional right to determine the upbringing of their children, and that includes medical decisions. And so this is really just strengthening those rights."

The bill requires stronger parent identification procedures for clinics, Purvis said, to prevent minors from having an adult pose as a parent. In such cases, the bill would enable a minor's real parents to sue the impostor for civil damages. She said it would also help ensure minors aren't coerced into abortions by boyfriends, pimps or sex traffickers.

“Minors who obtain secret abortions often do so at the behest of older men who impregnate them and then return them to abusive situations," said Sue Swayze, vice president of public affairs for Indiana Right to Life.

Yet attorneys who have helped minors go through the legal process to bypass parental consent say the system goes to great efforts to ensure a minor isn't being coerced.

Indianapolis family law attorney Jane Glynn said there have been cases when the minor has been molested by her father — and that this bill could give him a pathway into the hearing. More than anything else, Glynn said, the greatest fear a pregnant minor has is that her parents will cut her off financially and emotionally, even force her from the home. This puts the pregnant teenager at the mercy of anyone who will care for her, including sex traffickers. "This bill not only doesn't protect girls," she said, "it puts them in danger."

Glynn and others who testified against the bill said requirements that both parents be notified, even if they live elsewhere or are absent, are unrealistic and essentially "guts" the process for a child to bypass parents with the court's consent. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that a bypass procedure for minors must exist. And Jane Henegar, executive director of the ACLU of Indiana, said if the bill becomes law, her organization will sue the state.

During three hours of testimony and debate, Republicans on the judiciary committee were mostly content to watch. Three Democrats — Sens. Greg Taylor of Indianapolis, Lonnie Randolph of East Chicago and Timothy Lanane of Anderson — picked away at the feasibility of notifying absent parents, the wisdom in notifying abusive parents and about language that leaves unclear if both parents are needed for consent. In the end, one Republican — Sen. Susan Glick of LaGrange — joined them in voting against it.

Sen. Rodric Bray, chairman of the judiciary committee, said some of the concerns raised at the hearing were valid, and he vowed to address them with amendments before the bill comes to the Senate floor.

Call IndyStar reporter Robert King at (317) 444-6089. Follow him on Twitter: @RbtKing.

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