Planned Parenthood of Indiana v. Box, No. 17-2428 (7th Cir. 2021)
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Indiana statutes provided a fast and confidential judicial bypass procedure that is supposed to allow a small fraction of pregnant, unemancipated minors seeking abortions to obtain them without the consent of or notice to their parents, guardians, or custodians. In 2017, Act 404 added a requirement that parents be given prior notice of the planned abortion unless the judge also finds such notice is not in the minor’s “best interests” unlike the judicial bypass of parental consent, which may be based on either maturity or best interests.
In 2019, the Seventh Circuit held that Act 404 created a substantial risk of a practical veto over a mature yet unemancipated minor’s right to an abortion, likely to impose an undue burden for the unemancipated minors who seek to obtain an abortion without parental involvement via the judicial bypass.
On remand from the Supreme Court in light of its 2020 “June Medical” decision, which struck down a Louisiana law regulating abortion providers, but without a single majority opinion. “The opinions in June Medical show that constitutional standards for state regulations affecting a woman’s right to choose to terminate a pregnancy are not stable, but they have not been changed in a way that would change the outcome here.” The court again affirmed the district court’s preliminary injunction barring enforcement of the challenged law pending full review.
This opinion or order relates to an opinion or order originally issued on August 27, 2019.
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