Alaskan Abortion Law Going to Court

Opponents of a new state law requiring that parents be notified when their daughters seek to get abortions will have a chance to present full arguments at a hearing challenging some provisions of the law.

Anchorage Superior Court Judge John Suddock on Friday rejected the state’s attempt to have certain issues tossed from the case to be heard Feb. 13. He said while the state’s arguments were correct “in a sense,” there also was Alaska’s judicial system to consider.

That system, he said, “is strongly imbued with the principle that each party is entitled to its day in court and to the opportunity to present facts it deems significant.”

Alaska voters approved the law in August 2010. It requires that girls under the age of 18 notify their parents or guardians before they have an abortion. Doctors could be punished for not making notification.

Planned Parenthood sued, but Suddock in December let the law stand with revisions: he removed provisions calling for a fine of up to $1,000 and imprisonment of up to five years for people who violate the law. He also struck a section allowing physicians to be liable for damages.