Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Concord Feminist Health Center, the Feminist Health Center of Portsmouth and Manchester, N.H.-based OB/GYN Wayne Goldner have filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging the constitutionality of New Hampshire's parental notification law for minors seeking abortion, the AP/Nashua Telegraph reports (Frothingham, AP/Nashua Telegraph, 11/18). Gov. Craig Benson (R) in June signed into law a measure (HB 763) that requires physicians to notify by certified letter a parent or guardian of a minor who is seeking an abortion at least 48 hours before performing the procedure. Parents do not have veto power, and the notification requirement could be bypassed by a judge or if a doctor determines that the minor's life is in danger. The measure is the state's first abortion law since the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision was handed down (Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, 6/23). The suit says that the law is unconstitutional because it lacks an exception to protect a woman's health. The suit also says that the law does not set guidelines to guarantee confidentiality in the judicial bypass process, according to the Manchester Union Leader. "For example, the law fails to require that court records be sealed or even that judicial bypass hearings be closed to the public," PPNNE Public Affairs Director Jennifer Frizzell said (Rayno, Manchester Union Leader, 11/18). The plaintiffs are seeking a temporary injunction to block the law from taking effect on Dec. 31 (Manning, Foster's Daily Democrat, 11/18).

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Frizzell said that the new law "actually endangers the health and lives of young women who need abortions in New Hampshire," adding, "Instead of allowing doctors to provide emergency medical care, it imposes a 48-hour delay even when such a delay would cause irreparable harm to a young woman's health" (Manchester Union Leader, 11/18). Rep. Phyllis Woods (R), a co-sponsor of the notification measure, said that it does not include a health exception because the "definition of health is so broad that you could drive a truck through it. If we had written that into the bill it would have made it useless" (Foster's Daily Democrat, 11/18). Goldner said that if a teen arrived at a hospital in need of urgent care and one of her parents could not be immediately found, the law would force him "to wait until her condition deteriorates to the point where she is about to die," adding, "By that point, she may have already lost her fertility or irreparably damaged her kidneys or liver. In some cases, the delay can prevent me from being able to save her life at all." Roger Stenson, president of New Hampshire Citizens for Life, said that the health exception is a "red herring," according to the AP/Telegraph. He added, "We absolutely know that a girl's parents know more about their child's best interests, especially in making life and death surgical decisions. It is our opinion that opponents of parental notice are protecting child abusers who want young girls alone and vulnerable to make an earthquake of a decision in a vacuum with strangers" (AP/Nashua Telegraph, 11/18).