Reclaiming Our Children: A Blog About Healing After Abortion

Another case of not caring about minor girls. It is appalling…so it continues, no aspirin from the school nurse, but the morning after pill? no problem…

By MARYCLAIRE DALE

A
city health clinic did not violate a 16-year-old’s rights or those of
her parents when it gave her emergency contraception without notifying
the couple, a federal appeals court said.

The
state is not obligated to encourage a minor to seek parental advice,
the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in the 47-page ruling. The
judges noted that the girl went to the city-run health center
voluntarily and could have called her parents before or during the
visit.

"The Constitution does not impose an affirmative
obligation on (the) defendants to ensure that children abide by their
parents wishes, values, or religious beliefs," Judge Theodore A. McKee
wrote in Friday’s ruling.

The ruling appears to be a first
among federal circuits involving teen access to the morning-after pill
at public health centers, lawyers on both sides said. However, the
judges relied on long-standing Supreme Court precedent that minors
enjoy privacy rights even if they must sometimes be weighed against a
parent’s.

"The parents are being removed from the equation,
which doesn’t bode well. It’s only one case, but the message is not a
good one for the family," said lawyer Joseph P. Stanton, who represents
Melissa Anspach and her parents, Kurt and Karen Anspach, of
Philadelphia.

Melissa Anspach visited the clinic in January
2004 for a pregnancy test, which was not available that day. At a
friend’s suggestion, she returned a short time later and asked for the
morning-after pill, also known as Plan B. She spoke briefly with a
social worker before a nurse gave her one dose at the clinic and a
second dose to take 12 hours later.

After taking the second
dose, Anspach experienced severe abdominal pains and vomiting. She told
her parents about the medication and they took her to a hospital, where
she was treated and released.

Plan B, a high dose of a drug
found in many regular birth-control pills, can lower the risk of
pregnancy by up to 89 percent if taken within 72 hours of unprotected
sex. Some critics _ including Roman Catholic leaders _ consider the
pill tantamount to abortion, although the manufacturer says it has no
effect on women who are already pregnant.

The 3rd Circuit
contrasted the Anspach case to others in which a teacher or coach
actively directed minors to take a pregnancy test or seek an abortion _
actions the courts found intrusive.

"Here, the center, a
public health clinic, had no authority over Melissa, nor did center
staff become involved in Melissa’s reproductive health decisions
without invitation," the court said. "Melissa was only given the pills
because she asked for them."

The Anspachs, who said they
oppose abortion, also raised religious objections to the clinic’s
actions. The court rejected that argument on grounds their daughter had
not expressed those views during the visit.

The Food and
Drug Administration, after three years of bitter debate, ruled last
year that Plan B could be sold over-the-counter to women 18 and older.
Minors can obtain it at some clinics or with a prescription.

"We’re
obviously very pleased. There was no dissent. It’s a very strong, clear
decision," said Susan Frietsche, senior staff attorney of the Women’s
Law Project in Pittsburgh, which filed an amicus brief in support of
the city.

A possible telephone listing for the Anspachs, who live in Philadelphia, rang unanswered Monday.

http://www.timesleader.com/news/ap?articleID=112166