NBC NIGHTLY NEWS - Supreme Court Tackles New Hampshire Abortion Law

May 23, 2005
NBC NIGHTLY NEWS
Supreme Court Tackles New Hampshire Abortion Law

BRIAN WILLIAMS, anchor:

It was a law in New Hampshire that was challenged before it could ever be enforced. It said minors wanting an abortion would need to first notify a parent, even when the girl's health was at risk. The Supreme Court today agreed to take the case to decide it once and for all, its first abortion case in six years. And while the case is about notifying parents, it could have a larger impact than that. A lot of legal scholars agree that with the court's decision to jump back into this emotional issue, the stakes right now are high. We begin our reporting tonight with NBC News justice correspondent Pete Williams.

PETE WILLIAMS reporting:

Advocates of abortion rights were alarmed that the court agreed to hear the case over a New Hampshire law requiring girls under 18 to give their parents 48 hours notice before getting an abortion. No exception when waiting would endanger a patient's life or health. It passed the legislature two years ago but was never enforced because lower courts struck it down. Now the Supreme Court is giving the state another chance to defend the law, and that worries groups like Planned Parenthood which sued to block it.

Ms. KAREN PEARL (Planned Parenthood President): We would want physicians to feel empowered to do what they need to do to protect the woman and to ensure her long-term health and her long-term fertility.

PETE WILLIAMS: A ruling could affect the 33 states that require parental notification or consent before a minor can get abortion. Most provide an exception when there's a health risk from waiting.

Mr. JAY SEKULOW (Anti-Abortion Lawyer): A high school student can't get an aspirin without parental consent and the idea that they would have an abortion or surgery without notifying the parents to me seems absolutely ridiculous.

PETE WILLIAMS: But both sides say the court could use the case to get to a more fundamental issue: how much freedom states should have to restrict access to abortion. Legal scholars say if the court lowers that hurdle, it could produce big changes.

Professor STEPHEN WERMIEL (American University Law School): Then I think it gives the states a lot more leeway, in--in the partial birth cases, in--in--not only parental notification, but in waiting periods, in all kinds of cases.

PETE WILLIAMS: Still unknown, will the court that hears this case this fall include Chief Justice Rehnquist, an abortion opponent, recovering from thyroid cancer, seen today on Capitol Hill and still working. This never-before-broadcast video shows him just two weeks ago accepting an honorary degree.

Dr. WILLIAM H. REHNQUIST (Doctor of Political Science): (From file footage) I shall always be honored by having received the degree, and I thank you for it.

PETE WILLIAMS: Tonight only the justices know whether they took this case because they think the courts are making it too hard for the states to regulate abortion or too easy. Pete Williams, NBC News, at the Supreme Court.