Teenagers and Pregnancy: The Law in 1979

Since January 1976, when we last reviewed state laws and policies affecting the right of teenagers to consent for their own birth control and other reproductive health care, 1 the U.S. Supreme Court has in effect issued at least a partial bill of reproductive rights for minors. In three landmark cases-two involving abortion and one dealing with contraception-the Court has laid down a federal constitutional framework with which all future laws and regulations must comply. In so doing, the Court has rendered obsolete many of the laws we previously described that had restricted access of young people to fertility control services, and has clarified the rest. Thus, out of the old patchwork of statutes, case law, attorneys generals' opinions and administrative rulings there is finally emerging a coherent body of law based on two fundamental principles: * the constitutional right of mature minors to obtain reproductive health services on their own consent, and * the constitutional right of all minors to have an alternative to parental involvement in implementing their decisions about such health care. By 1976, liberalization of state laws and reduction of the age of majority had established the right of unmarried women aged 18 or older to consent for most aspects of their own medical care in at least 45 states and the District of Columbia. In 48 states and the District, they could consent for most pregnancy-related health services, including abortion. In a number of states, however, minors still encountered obstacles to obtaining contraceptive services or terminating unwanted pregnancies without the consent of their parents. Mature minors have the right to consent to their own reproductive health care; and all minors must be given an alternative to parental involvement in decisions about such care.