Injunction against ‘mature minors’ parental notice abortion law lifted

A federal court has lifted an injunction against an Indiana abortion law requiring “mature minors” to notify their parents before getting an abortion — a decision that comes as the Indiana General Assembly is considering legislation that would enact a near-total ban on abortions statewide.

The 7^th Circuit Court of Appeals lifted the injunction on the parental notification law Wednesday in the case of Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky, Inc. v. Kristina Box, et al., 17-2428. The law says minors who are judicially determined to be “mature” enough to get an abortion without parental consent must still inform their parents of the procedure, with exceptions for cases in which parental notification would endanger the minor girl’s well-being.

The law, 2017’s Senate Enrolled Act 404, was enjoined in June 2017 before it could take effect.

The 7^th Circuit affirmed the injunction in 2019, then subsequently denied rehearing and rehearing en banc.

The state then filed a cert petition with the U.S. Supreme Court, which remanded the case in July 2020.   The high court ordered the 7^th Circuit to reconsider the mature-minors law in light of the decision in June Medical Services LLC v. Russo, 591 US __ (2020).

The 7^th Circuit upheld the injunction on remand, and the state again filed a cert petition.

Following last month’s landmark ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that ended the constitutional right to an abortion,  the high court remanded the case to the 7^th Circuit for a third review.

Following Dobbs, the state sought to lift injunctions against a spate of Indiana abortion regulations. The 7^th Circuit granted that request as to the mature-minors law on Wednesday.

“It is clear that Dobbs requires that the portion of the preliminary injunction barring enforcement of the parental notice requirement in the judicial bypass procedure in Ind. Code § 16-34-2-4(b), (d), and (e) must be and hereby is VACATED,” the Wednesday order says.

The appellate panel added, “The other portions of the preliminary injunction present different constitutional issues, have not been challenged on appeal, and remain in effect.”

Specifically, the lawsuit challenged two other portions of SEA 404 that were not at issue in the mature-minors appeal.

The first was a requirement that physicians performing abortions on unemancipated minors obtain not only written consent from a parent but also a government-issued ID of the parent and “some evidence” that the adult is the minor’s parent or legal guardian. Relatedly, the plaintiffs challenged a mandate that physicians execute an affidavit certifying that to the best of their “information and belief, a reasonable person … would rely on the information … as sufficient evidence of identity and relationship.”

The second challenged provision was a prohibition on aiding or assisting an unemancipated pregnant minor from obtaining an abortion without the required consent.

The case against SEA 404 was remanded for further proceedings.

Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, a staunchly anti-abortion Republican, celebrated Wednesday’s ruling lifting the injunction.

He noted this is the fourth time since Dobbs that a federal judge has lifted an injunction against an Indiana abortion law, including injunctions against a law prohibiting a common second-trimester abortion procedure and a law prohibiting abortions based on the basis of an unborn child’s race, sex or disability, as well as an injunction against numerous Indiana abortion regulations.

The lifting of the injunctions comes as Indiana lawmakers are in a special session that is expected to result in legislation banning abortion statewide in most cases.

The introduced version of the legislation — which received almost no support from abortion proponents or opponents — banned abortions except in cases of rape, incest or to protect the life of a mother. But the bill has already been amended to narrow those exceptions and to allow for criminal penalties against doctors who perform illegal abortions.