Court OKs 17-year-old's abortion (emancipated woman and not subject to the parental notification law

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Omaha World Herald

By Martha Stoddard

LINCOLN - The Nebraska Supreme Court granted permission Friday for a 17-year-old girl to get an abortion without notifying her mother.

The court ruled that the girl, who will turn 18 in less than two months, is an emancipated woman and not subject to the parental notification law.

“It is not for this court to determine the correctness of petitioner's decision” about having an abortion, the ruling said.

The decision was issued less than a month after the Dakota County District Court heard arguments in the case.


Read more: http://www.omaha.com/article/20100521/NEWS97/100529916#court-oks-17-year-old-s-abortion

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Good.

This is exactly what it means to be "emancipated."

[joeybee12]

2. Agreed...KNR.

[Darth_Kitten]

17. Being irresponsible?

She should have high-tailed it to the drugstore to get condoms to avoid this.

[happyslug]

19. Under English Common Law, an emancipated minor has the same rights as an adult

The common law understood that it was common in farming days, for teenagers to leave their home, with parents knowledge and permission, and be able to enter into any contract the minor could do if over age 21. The Common law understood that to be able to live away from their parents, the minor had to be able to entered into contracts, as if the minor was over age 21. Thus an emancipated minor can entered into the same contract a person could if over age 21. This ability to entered into a contract includes the right to enter into a contract for an abortion.

The key to be an emancipated minor is that the minor is not under the care control or supervision of a parent do to the act of the PARENT. Now some states require a minor to go to court to be emancipated, but that was NOT required under the common law (nor in my home state of Pennsylvania). I suspect Nebraska has a similar rule, but someone wanted a Judicial finding that the minor was an emancipated minor. Such a ruling can be made even in my home state of Pennsylvania, notice it is NOT a ruling that a minor is emancipated but a FINDING that the minor had been emancipated by the minor's parents. A minor technical difference, but probably what is going on in this case.

[bluestateguy]

3. Can an emancipated child vote?

Just always been curious about that.

[Posteritatis]

5. Voting's strictly age-based, no? (nt)

[Lance_Boyle]

7. No. You have to be 18 or older to vote.

Emancipated minors can't buy alcohol, either. At least not legally. ;-)

And good for the court deciding correctly in this case. I can see parental notification for younger kids MAYBE (11 or 12 year olds), but not for someone who is essentially college-aged.

[Dappleganger]

12. Agreed.

It's good to see the system works at times.

[happyslug]

20. Emancipation of Minor is a Contract only issue

Emancipated of minors involved the issue of someone being able to enter into a valid enforceable contract. If a minor is emancipated (by the acts of the minor's parents stopping doing any care, control or supervision of the minor) the minor can enter into a valid contract. This does NOT affect other age related actions. For example under the common law a minor was of age for various actions:

1. Minors could marry at age 12 (Changed in ALL states with the possible exceptions of the few states that have Common law marriages)
2. The age to be tried as an adult was age 14 (this was based on the common law concept that to be same one had to have the mental capacity of a 14 year old). Again this has been changed by statute in all states.

Now some things are set by statute and thus still apply to emancipated minors for example:
1. If the state requires you to go to school, you must go to school even if you are an emancipated minor (for example if the state requires all 17 years old to be in school, if the 17 year is emancipation still MUST go to school).
2. If the state requires parents permission to get a Driver's License, that is still required even if the Minor is emancipated.
3. One can not vote till one is age 18
4. One can NOT enlist into the US Military till one is 18, even if an emancipated minor.
5. If a state FORBIDS people under 18 from doing something, it is forbidden even for emancipate minors.

[rocktivity]

4. "A court can waive the (notification) requirement

by finding the minor to be mature and capable of giving informed consent or by finding that an abortion without notification is in the girl's best interests."

So a minor determined NOT to be mature and capable of giving informed consent could be forced to have the baby by her parents? If you're not mature enough to decide to have an abortion, how can you possibly be mature enough to have a baby and be a parent?

:crazy:
rocktivity

[leftynyc]

8. There is a terrific book about

this very subject. Protect and Defend by Richard North Patterson (not his usual topic/style). It's about a young girl who finds out her baby doesn't have a brain and wants to abort - her state has parental notification/permission. It's a terrific read and I highly recommend. Here's the Amazon link if you haven't already read and wish to.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0345404793/danielosterma-20

[AtheistCrusader]

11. Nebraska is notification only I believe.

So no, they couldn't prevent the abortion, legally.

Some states require consent. There, the answer to your question could be 'yes'.

[daleo]

24. Your question is a logical one.

I suspect that anti-abortionists would claim that the girl would grow into her role as mother. In some cases that might happen, but it is also quite likely that everyone involved would grow to hate each other.

[no_hypocrisy]

6. New Jersey was considering a parental notification law but it never passed.

I was one of the very few attorneys ready to volunteer our services for the emancipation hearings for any young woman under the age of 18.

[David__77]

9. Interesting how they deliberate while a fetus develops.

They'd rather the girl end up having a second term abortion I suppose, which places her at greater risk. Can't they expedite these things?

[Ter]

10. Emancipated means she has another kid right?

Strange how the article didn't define it.

[Scout]

13. no, it doesn't. n/t

[quakerboy]

21. Not even close

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emancipated_minor

It means that in some way she proved herself mature enough to be responsible for herself.

[saracat]

14. K+R but I sure hope she uses BC . She has a 2mos old? She needs to get

some BC education PDQ.

[Darth_Kitten]

16. Yes, but she's emancipated, she knows everything now.....

:sarcasm:

Too many kids want to play grown-up.

[saracat]

18. The reality is many grownups are no better. The court did the right thing though.

I just hope they get her some help.

[Darth_Kitten]

22. Right, like how hard is birth control?

Well, yeah, she needs some guidance.

[saracat]

23. Actually, it depends and nothing is 100% safe.My guess is she bought into the

"you can't get pregnant while breast feeding" myth. And where is the boyfriend in all this? he has a responsibility too!

[Omaha Steve]

15. I'm just shocked the court did the right thing

A lower court judge stopped an abortion here a few years ago, because the father didn't want it done.