Tomorrow the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments over the state's parental notification law.
Lawyers, activists and politicians will all discuss the merits of the law that requires a parent or guardian to be notified 48 hours before a girl under 18 can receive an abortion.
But the arguments heard in Washington tomorrow can't include the voices of those on the front lines- teenagers.
New Hampshire Public Radio's Dan Gorenstein spoke with a dozen students about parental notification Monday.
Sfx: hallway sound Souhegan High
Souhegan High School is in Amherst, New Hampshire- just a few miles from Nashua.
14-year old student Ashley says ideally a child would talk to a parent about pregnancy and abortion.
But something like pregnancy, she says, can be just too personal.
T.12
:29 ... I probably wouldn't want to tell my mom. But if I had a daughter, I would want to know. So it's just kind of like, you don't want to tell other people about yourself, but you want everyone to tell about them, so...I think they should try to respect that they don't need to know everything about their kids, we don't need to know everything about them. It's....everyone has secrets.
Classmate Mark is sympathetic.
He believes a lot of times parents don't really know their kids.
And he thinks parental notification could damage the image parents have of their child.
T.10
1:10 when you can't even keep secrets your own self, that's terrifying...you are forced to tell someone else about your personal business. But when it deals with something as big as taking a life away, and I think someone should have to be talked to.
Mark points out that someone doesn't have to be a parent.
The state's parental notification law does allow for a so-called judicial by-pass.
That is a process in which a girl could make a case to a judge why her parent shouldn't be informed.
Of the six teenage girls interviewed, all personally opposed the concept of parental notification.
And like Ali that resistance was due at least in part to a fear of disappointing their parents.
CUT:
I personally, my parents would be really mad, and I wouldn't want them knowing....I don't think they would understand and I think that would put...I don't really know how to put this, not ruin the relationship with your parents, but they wouldn't trust you as much as before.
Kelly2
2:01 I think the Legislature was pretty clear they wanted more than, 'My parents may be angry.'
That's New Hampshire Administrative Judge Edwin Kelly.
If parental notification becomes law, Kelly would be responsible for prepping the state's judges to hear judicial by-pass cases.
He also is eligible to hear those cases himself.
Kelly
6:33the statute speaks in terms of two premises that allow the by-pass of the notification. The first is the maturity of the individual. And the second is whether it's in the best interests of the young woman.
Kelly says he expects judges would ask about the individual's life experiences, whether she was in school, if she held a job.
If the judge determined the young woman lacked the maturity to terminate the pregnancy on her own, the judge would asses the girl's life to gauge the value of avoiding parental notification.
But if 'just because I don't want to tell my parents,' isn't a sufficient answer, Manchester 15-year old Cindy worries how that would affect other teenagers.
T.27
2:08... I think teens who don't want to tell their parents, if the whole judicial bypass didn't come through they would find other unsafe ways to do it. so I think it would discourage teens from having a safe procedure done.
Concord 17-year old Ashley doesn't agree.
She believes parental notification would scare kids into abstinence or at least into having safe sex.
Ashley is mixed overall on parental notification.
She doesn't believe girls should be forced to tell their parents, but at the same time she wishes her friend had.
T.16
:00 one of my friend's, she's had an abortion, she didn't want her parents knowing at all. She kept it a complete secret. All the paperwork she had from the abortion place was sent to my house. So her parents wouldn't find out.
T.17
6:14 she was just like, 'Just get this kid out of me, so I can keep partying. And doing whatever. She was being really immature about it.
T.17
7:07 (do you think she should have talked to an adult) yeah, I think she should have, b/c it's probably hard on her, she needs someone to talk to, I wouldn't have been there for her 24/7. Like if she had her mom, her mom would probably always be there for her. So I think she should have gone to her parent or something.
Manchester teen Cindy has a story of a classmate who did tell her parents about her pregnancy.
T.28
1:23 there was a girl at my school who got kicked out of her house, and as far as I know her parents don't intend to have any contact with her.
T.28
2:33 ... I'm not sure she got banished b/c she got pregnant, or b/c she got an abortion, but I think that is something that is plausible that could happen.
T.28
3:!5 at 14 you can't exactly get a job and find an apartment and take care of yourself. And so I think she missed a lot of school, b/c she didn't have anywhere to live. She concentrated on somewhere to sleep instead of showing up to school.
Those stories may be real or they may be the kind of tales that teenagers pass among themselves.
But each reveals a worst case scenario that advocates from both sides of the debate fear.
The common ground 17-year old Ashley and 15-year old Cindy agree on is that not enough parents bother to talk with their children about sex and abortion.
James Steiner, father to a 14 year old girl, says that's not as easy as it sounds.
T.22
1:40 I have a great relationship with my children, and a very open one, but yes, I think it is a very difficult discussion...the difficulty is in part, my daughter's age. I hope to think we are not at the threshold where that is necessary, although I am certainly not blind to the fact that she could share with me the names of girls at her middle school that were pregnant at age earlier than 14.
Steiner supports parental notification.
He says he doesn't think the law would force his daughters to talk to him.
He believes they would on their own.
But 17-year old Ashley doesn't think that's the best way to handle the situation.
T.18
2:06 if you don't even talk to your kids, about having sex, why would you make up a law that if you are pregnant you have to tell me if you are getting an abortion. Like you should talk to your kids before they even start having sex and then bring up the whole abortion issue.
The US Supreme Court begins oral arguments in AYotte Vs. Planned Parenhood Wednesday at 11 am.
A decision in the case is not expected until spring.
For NHPR News, I'm DG.
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