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| Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton |
The amicus brief written by AG Paxton begins,
The Seventh Circuit has left intact an injunction against an Indiana statute requiring that the parents of an unemancipated minor receive notice when their child decides to have an abortion without parental consent. And the court did so without really considering the compelling interest that States have in encouraging parental involvement in these kinds of life-altering decisions. In other words, the court disregarded the important interest that States have in protecting minors’ welfare—an interest that this Court has repeatedly affirmed.
The amici States seek to protect the most vulnerable members of society—children—as they face consequential decisions like whether to have an abortion.
Indiana's law is notably different from Illinois's Parental Notification of Abortion Act, since Indiana law usually requires parental consent for unemancipated minors to have abortions. Illinois only requires parental notification.
If a minor wants to get around the parental consent requirement, they can do so by convincing a judge that it is in their best interest. The judge can then grant the minor a judicial bypass, much like how a judge can grant minors a judicial bypass for parental notification in Illinois.
Even if the minor receives a judicial bypass, however, parents must still be informed that the minor is having an abortion. In Indiana, judicial bypasses only get around parental consent. In that state, parents must always be informed if their daughter is going to have an abortion.
