Abstract

PIP: The current status of the minor's right of privacy is examined, and the possible interests of parents and the state in controlling the minor's childbearing decisions is evaluated. Attention is directed to the development of an adult right of privacy and the potential barriers blocking its full extension to minors. The impact of the Danforth and Carey decisions extended the right of privacy to protect a minor's childbearing decisions from unwarranted state interference, and the constitutionality of statues that predicate a minor's abortion or contraceptive decision on either prior parental notification or parental judicial approval. The scope and vitality of the protection afforded by the Danforth and Carey decisions will be largely undermined if a minor's fundamental decisions are held to be constitutionally subject to parental or judicial review. State-mandated involvement of 3rd parties, aside from the minor's attending physician, in the decision to prevent or terminate pregnancy serves no significant state interest. Rather such restrictions impermissibly subject minors to the dangers of pregnancy and childbirth. Additionally, by selectively burdening only those childbearing decisions which result in the prevention or termination of pregnancy, parental consent, consultation, and notification requirements violate the Roe decision's insistence on a neutral state policy towards the outcome of fundamental personal choices. In sum, state-assisted parental or judicial intervention in the minor's childbearing decisions unconstitutionally limits the protection granted by the right of privacy.