Court Lets Ban Stand on New Abortion-Consent Law

Efforts to lift a court-imposed barrier to enactment of California’s new parental consent law for minors seeking abortions were rejected Thursday by the state Court of Appeal on a 2-1 vote.

As the case now stands, minors do not need permission of a parent or judge to have an abortion.

Under the law, which had been scheduled to take effect today, unmarried females under 18 years of age and still living at home, would have been required to get permission of at least one parent or a Juvenile Court judge before having an abortion.

Injunction Issued Earlier

Earlier this week, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Mortin Colvin issued a preliminary injunction barring enforcement of the new law pending trial on its constitutionality.

The state challenged the ruling in an emergency appeal late Wednesday asking that the court lift Colvin’s stay order.

A three-justice panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal refused to intervene in a brief 16-line order signed by Justice John T. Racanelli and Norman Elkington. Justice John W. Holmdahl was of the opinion the state petition should have been granted.

The American Civil Liberties Union filed suit in December on behalf of doctors and family planning organizations claiming the law was a violation of the young women’s state constitutional privacy rights.

Deputy Atty. Gen. Fred Register said any further emergency appeal of the case to the California Supreme Court was off at least until Monday.

Law Outlines Penalties

Under the terms of the law, signed in October, doctors could face criminal penalties if they provided abortions to minors without proper consent.

With the action Thursday, teen-agers can seek abortions without telling their parents.

The state had argued that the stay should be lifted to allow parents to exercise their constitutional right to guide and control minor daughters on matters of “profound moral, religious, cultural and ethical significance.”

The state also contended that teen-agers were “too immature and uninformed” to make proper decisions about an issue as important as abortion.