By Suzanne Sprague
Dallas, TX – Suzanne Sprague, KERA 90.1 Reporter: Last year, amid an emotional public debate, a significant law restricting abortion went into effect in Texas, requiring minors to tell a parent before terminating a pregnancy. The restriction was passed with a judicial bypass provision, meaning young women working with a court-appointed advocate, or guardian ad litem, can get permission from a judge to have an abortion.
Susan Hayes, Attorney: And to do so, she has to show one of three things: that she is well-informed and mature enough to make her own decision; that it is in her best interest to make her own decision; or that notifying the parent may lead to physical, sexual or emotional abuse.
Sprague: Dallas attorney Susan Hayes usually practices business law. But she helped out on an early judicial bypass case in Dallas and found the process, in her words, bizarre.
Hayes: What we were finding was guardians who seemed to have an agenda and didn't necessarily want to listen to what this kid's concerns were and wanted to pressure the kid into not having the abortion.
Sprague: Hayes says Jane Does were being sent to priests, even if they weren't Catholic; and one court insisted there was no judicial bypass law. It's all part of a national pattern, according to Jamie Ann Sabino, a Massachusetts attorney who heads up her state's judicial consent lawyer referral service.
Jamie Ann Sabino, Massachusetts Judicial Consent for Minors Lawyer Referral Panel: As more and more states adopt these, we're finding more and more states that are problematic. Take, for example, Indiana. They cannot find attorneys. The judges regularly refuse petitions or refuse to hear them.
Sprague: These kind of problems were surfacing in Texas. So Susan Hayes and former ACLU Regional Director Diana Phillip started Jane's Due Process, a non-profit group that provides free lawyers to young women seeking a judicial bypass.
Diana Philip, Jane's Due Process Executive Director: What we're seeing are those minors who understand that the statute wasn't put together for those kids who are just fearsome of disappointing or that they might get grounded for coming home pregnant. These are the kids that are really afraid that harm may come to their family or themselves if their parents know.
Sprague: From a bright-colored cell phone she carries with her all day, Diana Philip screens young Jane Does to decide if they would make good candidates for a judicial bypass. Then, she sends them to counseling. Volunteers like Dallas medical student Josh Nochumson tell the girls what an abortion is all about.
Josh Nochumson, medical student and volunteer counselor: Go over the risks, go over the procedure itself. I explain to them that it's important to consider everything now, make sure that your decision at this point is the right one for you, 'cause you're not going to want to regret it down the road.
Sprague: Since Jane's Due Process launched its web site and toll-free hotline at the beginning of this year, all but one of its 20 clients have obtained a judicial bypass. Senator Florence Shapiro, who sponsored the parental notification bill, didn't want to talk about that with KERA. However, last year, she and other state lawmakers did try to intervene in a Jane Doe case, telling the Texas Supreme Court it was still too easy for a minor to get an abortion. Diana Philip hasn't heard from those legislators, but she feels some heat.
Philip: I know that some folks are not very happy about this organization being put together, but all I can say is, if you think this is a good law, and you think that parents should be notified when a minor makes a decision to terminate a pregnancy, then you shouldn't object to an organization like ours that's dedicated to its fair application of the law.
Sprague: Public opinion polls show widespread support for parental notification. But statistics from the east coast show girls tell a parent about having an abortion as often in states with notification laws as those without. Jane's Due Process is studying the issue in Texas and hopes to prepare a report illustrating how the law in Texas is truly affecting young women and abortion rates. For KERA 90.1, I'm Suzanne Sprague.