Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest, Jan Whitefield, M.d., and Susan Lemagie, M.d., Appellants And…

Summary

The Alaska Supreme Court held that the Parental Notification Law violates the Alaska Constitution's equal protection guarantee because it burdens the fundamental reproductive-choice rights of minors seeking abortions while imposing no comparable burden on minors carrying pregnancies to term. The State's asserted interests in parental involvement, protecting minors' health and maturity, and preventing sexual abuse did not justify that discriminatory distinction under strict scrutiny. The court declined to decide the separate privacy challenge or the cross-appeals because the equal protection holding invalidated the law. Justice Stowers, dissenting, would have upheld the law based on the distinction between the two groups, the judicial bypass procedure, and parental rights to participate in the decision.