Editorial Note: With this post, RH Reality Check welcomes Dawna Cornelissen, who is a graduate student in Women's Studies at Texas Woman's University. She is also the president of Vox: Voices for Planned Parenthood at TWU.
Everything is Bigger in Texas ...even parental consent forms for abortions. Earlier this month, the Texas Medical Board approved a six page form for minors seeking abortions. This form is a result of Senate Bill 419 passed in June 2005, which was intended to reauthorize the State Board of Medical Examiners, but additionally, made it unlawful for a physician to perform an abortion on a minor without written parental consent. Although a copy of the form is not yet available, Polly Ross Hughes, of the Houston Chronicle [3], reports that the form "warn(s) of medical risks and tout(s) ‘women's right to know' brochures backed by abortion opponents."
The Texas "Women's Right to Know Act [4]" (HB 15) is an actual law that requires physicians to provide all patients having an abortion within 24 hours a 23 page booklet, also called "A Woman's Right to Know." The booklet, which the bill is named after, begins with the sentence: "You are reading this booklet ... because you are thinking about having an abortion" and contains a section called "Characteristics of the Unborn Child," which is accompanied by large pictures of developing embryos and fetuses (of course).
Aside from this sort of material and the signatures required for the form, it is unclear what exactly is on the rest of the form. The form is supposed to be sent to the Texas Register, a weekly publication that serves as the notice bulletin of state agency rulemaking, where it must be published before it can take effect. It was not included in the most recent publication released on September 8.
Aside from the length of the form and the mystery surrounding its exact content, the form has an additional oddity: notarization. There is no other known notarization requirement for an abortion parental consent form in any other state. What makes it even more interesting (or scary) is that this notarization requirement wasn't even in the original bill; it was added by the Texas Medical Board all by themselves. How thoughtful of them to make it even more difficult, not only for a teen to obtain an abortion, but now also for parents to sign the form.
Many abortion rights advocates cite privacy issues as a major concern because of the form's requirement of an outside party. With all of the politics and negativity surrounding abortion, it just doesn't seem fair that parents will be forced to share the information with anyone, including a notary. Then what if we find notaries refusing to sign consent forms on claims of conscience? I am not a notary, so I am not even sure if that is possible, but if it is I am sure it will come up.
In the end, I wonder if the State Medical Board's intention is to prolong unintended pregnancies so teens will have more later-term abortions? Or are they just hoping to increase the occurrence of illegal or self-inflicted abortions? Either way, this new form is a dangerous road block for all young women (and men) in Texas and people should be worried. For a state where the law requires abstinence-only-until-marriage sexuality education and still every 10 minutes in Texas a teen gets pregnant, further restricting access to abortion just doesn't seem like an answer.