(INDIANAPOLIS) – Attorney General Curtis Hill this week asked the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to rehear a challenge to an Indiana law requiring parental notification when minors obtain abortions.
Last month, a three-judge panel of the court upheld a preliminary injunction against the enforcement of Indiana’s parental notice law. In a petition filed Tuesday, Attorney General Hill asked the full 11-member court to reconsider the issue.
“This case involves the fundamental question of whether the U.S. Constitution prohibits Indiana from requiring an unemancipated minor to notify her parents of an impending abortion,” Attorney General Hill said. “The law already grants exceptions in cases where the minor shows that avoiding notification is in her best interests, such as if she resides with abusive family members.”
States have a clear interest in protecting the rights of parents and the well-being of minors, Attorney General Hill added.
“Even after a minor obtains an abortion authorized by a court, parents still have rights and responsibilities in the care and upbringing of their child,” Attorney General Hill said. “As they love and care for their daughter, parents need to know what she has been through. An abortion is a facet of medical history that could have implications for future treatment. It is an event that could bear on a child’s emotional needs and mental health.”
Attached is this week’s court filing.
