Constitutional Issues essays

Constitutional Issues essays The Jane Hodgson v Minnesota case revolved around a State law whereby a woman below 18 could not obtain an abortion until 48 hours after her parents had been notified (Legal Information Institute 1990). Exceptions were if the woman was a victim of family abuse or neglect; a court of competent jurisdiction allowed her to proceed upon presentation of evidence that she was "mature and capable of mature consent;" and if the abortion was to her best interests. Concerned sectors filed a complaint at the District Court that the statute violated the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the 14th Amendment. The District Court declared the statute completely unconstitutional and enjoined that it be so enforced. The District Court found that requiring the notification of both effects on both the woman and her parents if the latter were divorced or separated or the family was dysfunctional. It agreed that the minor could bypass the two-parent requirement because of its tediousness and the ensuing loss of privacy, and, therefore, did not further the interests of the State in protecting the welfare of the woman. It also held that the 48- hour delay, in many cases, entailed significant risk involved in the securing of an abortion. It ruled that the permission of one parent was sufficient to serve the interests of the State in the case of normally functioning families, where the decision of one parent would be presumed to be in the best interests of the minor and the State would not question the decision of that one parent. It also noted that there were thousands of dysfunctional families affected by the two-parent requirement, which was an "oddity" among state consent provisions. The Court of Appeals, however, reversed the District Court's verdict affirmed the original State statute. It pointed to three separate but constitutional issues on the two-parent requirement and the ...