Anchorage, Alaska -- Charging that parental consent for abortion harms young women's health and robs them of their rights under the state constitution, pro-choice advocates will argue against Alaska's parental consent law before the Alaska State Supreme Court on Monday, December 6, 1999. Attorneys for reproductive health care providers challenging the law will argue that the current parental consent law cannot stand in the face of the state's constitutional guarantee of equal protection because Alaska law imposes no similar consent requirement on a pregnant minor who desires to carry her pregnancy to term. In addition, they will argue that the law violates the right to privacy.

The law in question, which has been blocked by the state court since 1997, requires pregnant minors under 17 who desire an abortion to first obtain the consent of a parent or guardian. The law contains a judicial bypass, which allows minors the alternative of seeking a court order authorizing the procedure.

Alaska's law requiring parental consent for abortion, [SB 24], was enacted following an override of Governor Knowles' veto in May 1997. On August 4, 1997, the trial court issued a temporary restraining order, blocking enforcement of the law. On February 25, 1998, the trial court ruled that the law denies minors seeking an abortion equal protection under the Alaska Constitution. In his decision, Judge Tan reiterated that women's reproductive rights are fundamental and, under the Alaska Constitution, are independent of and broader than those protected under the federal constitution. The state appealed the decision.

Forty-two states have adopted laws requiring a young woman to obtain the consent of or notify one or both parents prior to an abortion, but only thirty states are enforcing those measures.

Janet Crepps of the Center for Reproductive Rights and Jim Kentch of the Alaska Civil Liberties Union Foundation represent the plaintiffs in State of Alaska v. Planned Parenthood of Alaska et al. Plaintiffs include Planned Parenthood of Alaska, Jan Whitefield, M.D., and Robert Klem, M.D.