supreme court

Supreme Court Abortion Case Hinges on Health Exception

By Paul Strand
Washington Sr. Correspondent

CBN.com – (CBN News) - The U.S. Supreme Court has heard its first abortion-related case in five years. It involves New Hampshire's parental notification law, and whether that law is too strict.

The main argument by pro-choice forces was this: New Hampshire's law does not provide an exception to protect the health of a teenager getting an abortion. They made it sound like that could lead to the death of young women in a medical emergency.

"We believe that any law that delays a doctor from treating a patient in a medical emergency, does not protect that teen from harm," said New Hampshire State Representative Terie Norelli.

But New Hampshire's Attorney General Kelly Ayotte pointed out courts have so stretched the meaning of "health," it can excuse almost any abortion for almost any reason. "General health concerns can include anything – mental health... it can just include broad health concerns," Ayotte said.

It can even include a danger to the girl's so-called "emotional health" from worrying about what will happen if she doesn't get the abortion.

One other major point of contention for the justices involved the law's bypass clause which allows a judge rather than the girl's parents to be notified about her abortion.

Justice Stephen Breyer worried judges can not always be reached in an emergency. "It's two in the morning and there's, you know, one of those things, 'leave a message,'" Breyer said.

But Justice Antonin Scalia suggested New Hampshire could solve that problem by having a designated on-call "abortion judge." Scalia explained, "And he can be reached anytime, anywhere. It takes 30 seconds to place a phone call.”

But parents outside the Court pointed out what was getting ignored in all this talk of judges and health was the very heart of why most states have parental notification laws: parents want to know and need to know if their child’s health is in danger.

Charmaine Yoest of the Family Research Council told CBN News, "Eighty percent of Americans say that they support parental notification laws. That includes people who support abortion. Parents who are pro-choice still want to know if their daughter is going to through a procedure that could threaten her life."

How the Court decides this case may be as important as what it decides. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, a fairly reliable pro-choice vote, was on the bench to hear the case. But she will almost surely have been replaced by Judge Samuel Alito, a likely pro-life vote, when the Court makes its ruling. It will then be up to the Court whether or not to let Alito have a vote, and his vote could well decide the case.

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