Parental notification laws refer to state laws that require minors to get permission from, or at least notify, a parent or guardian before getting an abortion. They are also referred to as "parental involvement laws." There is generally a process, called judicial bypass or judicial waiver, in which a minor can ask a judge to decide whether a parent or guardian must be notified before an abortion is performed. New Hampshire's parental notification law is RSA 132:32-36, Parental Notification Prior to Abortion. The forms to request a judicial waiver in New Hampshire and a description of the process are found under the Forms tab.
An earlier form of the parental notification law, RSA 132:24-28, was passed in 2003. Most sections of that law were found to be unconstitutional in the case of Planned Parenthood of Northern New England v. Heed, 390 F.3d 53 (2004). The decision was affirmed by the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and the case then went to the United States Supreme Court (Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood of Northern New Eng., 546 US 320 (2006)) which vacated the judgment of the First Circuit and remanded the case for further proceedings. Eventually the law was repealed by the legislature, effective June 29, 2007, and the case was dismissed as moot. The New Hampshire legislature enacted a new version of the law in 2011.
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It is intended as a starting point for research, to illustrate the various sources of the law, and to provide guidance in their use.
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