Orem lawmaker ponders abortion notification bill

There isn't much room left to tighten down Utah's abortion laws, but Steve Sandstrom is willing to give it a shot.

The Republican representative from Orem is mulling a bill that would bring parents into the decision-making process even if a minor was to use what's known as the "judicial pass" process. That is supposed to guarantee that a minor can use the court system to get an abortion without parental approval in the event of abuse, incest or danger to her life.

But the court rules also say that a judge can determine if a minor is mature enough to make the decision herself.

"To me that still opens the door for a minor to have an abortion," Sandstrom said. It also, he claims, opens the door for groups like Planned Parenthood to guide minors through to unneeded abortions.

He met with the Administrative Office of the Courts late last week to see if a rule change would do the trick, but the courts are bound by their own strict rules, and he determined a bill would be necessary. That doesn't mean that it will come up in this year's legislative session, which begins today. If it's not ready to pass "constitutional muster," he's willing to take it into interim meetings over the summer.

"This is a bill that I want to make sure is done right," he said. "If it's not done right we could do more harm than good."

What Sandstrom wants "done right" is further consideration of parental rights when a judge is considering the abortion rights of their daughter. He said he's in favor of the judicial pass law in cases of incest, danger to the life of the mother and if parents have a recorded history of abuse.

"Beyond that, I would like to make it so that a minor child could still go before a judge, but their parents also get before the state court and make the case for why their daughter should not have an abortion."

As the legal rules are written, courts are forbidden from notifying parents of a decision to allow or deny a minor an abortion. And that's the way it should be, according to groups like Planned Parenthood. They say that bringing parents into the judicial pass process violates confidentiality guaranteed by law. They also say that a better use of resources is to teach minors about prevention.

It's not as if there were a rash of minors trying to sneak abortion past their parents. According to the Administrative Office of the Courts, four girls had cases in 2006 and three were allowed in 2007.

Those numbers are irrelevant, says Sandstrom, who believes that one "unnecessary" abortion is too many.

"I don't think we should play the number games on something like this," he said.