Bishops Urge Court to Uphold Laws on Abortion Notification

The nation’s Roman Catholic bishops, accusing federal courts of meddling in state lawmaking, on Tuesday asked the Supreme Court to uphold state laws requiring parents to be notified before a minor may have an abortion.

In a friend-of-the-court brief, the U.S. Catholic Conference, the bishops’ social policy action arm, said states have been frustrated “by the constant and detailed involvement in the federal courts in the development of their statutory law.”

“A particular area of concern has been in the extent to which this (Supreme) Court has constitutionalized an adolescent’s choice to have an abortion,” the brief argued.

The brief was filed in connection with two abortion cases the Supreme Court has agreed to hear during the term that begins in October and that are expected to further clarify the legal status of abortion.

Last term, in a ruling that opened a new front in the fight over legal abortion, the court upheld abortion restrictions enacted by the state of Missouri while leaving in place the landmark 1973 ruling that made most abortions legal.

The two cases the Supreme Court will consider involve Ohio and Minnesota laws requiring either the doctor or the minor to notify parents prior to the abortion.

Federal courts have ruled differently on the issue of parental notification, with some rulings rejecting laws similar to those in Minnesota and Ohio as an unconstitutional restriction on a teen-age girl’s access to abortion.

The bishops’ brief argues that state legislatures are the traditional forum for the resolution of public debates over which actions should be taken in the public interest but that they have been stripped of their discretion by the courts’ involvement. As a result, the brief argues, the family unit suffers.