title: Judicial bypass of parental consent for abortion: characteristics of pregnant minor "Jane Doe's".
abstract: Pregnant minors can obtain an abortion without parental consent through a judicial bypass procedure in 38 states. To grant such a petition in Ohio, the Court must determine that the young woman is either "sufficiently mature and well enough informed to intelligently decide whether to have an abortion," or that notification of her parents is "not in her best interest," usually due to abuse. For the sake of anonymity in these emotionally and politically charged cases, the evaluee is referred to as "Jane Doe." This project sought to describe characteristics of teenagers seeking judicial bypass for abortion, which have not been well described in the scientific literature. Data were collected from Jane Doe evaluations completed at a metropolitan juvenile court psychiatric clinic, over 3 years. The mean age of the evaluees (N = 55) was 16.4 years. The vast majority (95%) were granted a judicial bypass. They usually had long-term boyfriends of comparable age. They had often told trusted adults about their pregnancy, though not their parents, due to concerns of violence or being excluded from the family. This study presents the first comprehensive description of characteristics of minors seeking judicial bypasses for abortion. Psychiatrists may apply general principles of informed consent in such evaluations, including ascertaining whether the decision is being made voluntarily, knowingly, and with sufficient decision-making capacity.
authors.affiliation: *Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, OH; †University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand; ‡Cuyahoga County Juvenile Diagnostic Clinic; §Cleveland State University; ∥Louis Stokes Cleveland Department of Veterans Affairs, Cleveland, OH; and ¶University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA.
authors.forename: Susan Hatters
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Friedman
authors.forename: Todd
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hendrix
authors.forename: Jessica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Haberman
authors.forename: Abhishek
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jain
mesh_terms: D000028:Abortion, Induced / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D000293:Adolescent; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D033222:Judicial Role; D033242:Minors / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000523:psychology*; D033282:Parental Consent / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D011247:Pregnancy