Texas Notification Law Linked To Lower Abortion Rates, More Second-Trimester Abortions Among 17-Year-Olds, Study Says

Main Category: Abortion
Article Date: 13 Mar 2006 - 12:00 PDT

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Abortion rates decreased among minors ages 15 to 17 in Texas since a parental notification law went into effect in 2000, but second-trimester abortions have increased among 17-year-olds, according to a study published in the March edition of the New England Journal of Medicine, the Dallas Morning News reports (Beil, Dallas Morning News, 3/9). Under the notification law, parents of minors seeking abortion must be notified in writing 48 hours before the procedure takes place (Kaiser Daily Women's Heath Policy Report, 5/31/05). The parental notification law was replaced by a parental consent law in September 2005 (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 8/30/05). Ted Joyce, a professor at Baruch College at City University of New York, and colleagues looked at birth and abortion certificates from 1998 to 1999 and from 2000 to 2002 (Falkenberg, Houston Chronicle, 3/9). Researchers found that abortion rates in the three years after the law took effect were lower compared with the two years before the law was enacted. According to the study, the abortion rate fell 18% among 15-year-olds, 25% among 16-year-olds and 22% among 17-year-olds. Among 18-year-olds, who were not affected by the law, the abortion rate was 7% lower, suggesting that the larger decline among minors could be attributed to the notification law, the study says. Researchers also found that there was an increase in the number of second-trimester abortions in minors who were within six months of turning age 18, indicating some girls might be waiting until age 18 to bypass the notification requirement. The study says the slight increase for minors within six months of turning age 18 corresponded with approximately 70 additional second-trimester abortions annually in the state, the Morning News reports. Researchers also found that birth rates among minors fell for most groups analyzed in the study (Dallas Morning News, 3/9). According to the study, the average number of births among 15- to 19-year-olds in the state fell from 65,055 in the two years before the law was enacted to 64,717 during the following three years. Researchers concluded that although more research is needed to confirm the findings, the study is "relevant to an assessment of the likely effect of pending legislation to extend such laws" (Joyce et al., New England Journal of Medicine, 3/9).

ABCNews' "World News Tonight" on Wednesday reported on the study. The segment includes comments from Lawrence Finer, director of domestic research at the Guttmacher Institute; Susan Hayes, co-founder of Jane's Due Process; Joyce; state Sen. Florence Shapiro (R); and a pregnant teen living in Texas (Reynolds, "World News Tonight," ABCNews, 3/8). The complete transcript of the segment is available online.

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