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Parental notification's effect mixed


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NEW YORK, Mar 6, 2006 (UPI via COMTEX) -- An analysis by the New York Times finds little evidence that parental notification laws cut the number of abortions.

The newspaper examined the history of abortion rates in six states that adopted laws between 1995 and 2004: Arizona, Idaho, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. It found that there is no way to predict whether the number of abortions will fall, rise or remain about the same when a law is passed.

For example, in Texas the abortion rate fell after notification became law but had fallen even faster in previous years. In Tennessee, the rate went down after a court barred enforcement of the law and then increased again when the law went back into effect. In Virginia, parental notification had almost no effect but the rate dropped in 2003 when the law was changed to require parental consent.

Many abortion clinic employees say they see far more parents pressing reluctant daughters to get abortions than the reverse.

Nicole, a teenager waiting with her mother at an Allentown clinic, said that Pennsylvania's notification law only required her to do what she would have done any way.

"She was the first person I called," Nicole said. "She's like a best friend to me."

URL: www.upi.com 

Copyright 2006 by United Press International

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