For Moz

(Second entry today)

Evidently, I like to link to articles that you have to sign in to read. Go, me. Which, you know, is fine because when I went to get the URL for the article, I saw that I had linked to the wrong one anyway.

Anyway, so I went and ganked a couple of the articles for those who are interested (Jess). I'm not going to get arrested for plagarism, am I? I hope not. I gave full credit.

From The Nashua Telegraph, 12/1/2005

Nashua�s Ayotte says she was ready for tough questions

By NORMA LOVE, The Associated Press

Published: Thursday, Dec. 1, 2005

New Hampshire Attorney General Kelly Ayotte said the minute she opened her mouth Wednesday, she stopped feeling nervous about arguing a pivotal abortion case before the U.S. Supreme Court.

�I felt nervous just as I�m sure anyone who has appeared before the court and particularly given it was my first time,� said Ayotte, the state�s first female attorney general. �But once you open your mouth and they ask the first question, that all sort of melts away because you�re so focused on the case.�

Ayotte said she expected tough questions and wasn�t surprised to get them.

�Most of the time flew by because it was spent answering the justices� questions and they were in rapid succession,� Ayotte said in a telephone interview from Washington.

Ayotte has steadfastly declined to give her personal opinion of the parental notice law she defended. Ayotte said people on both sides would find fault with her actions if she disclosed her personal views.

�It�s a little odd to have a Supreme Court case with your name in it,� she said. �It�s just the nature and the way these cases are brought.�

Nor, she said, does she believe she had a choice in defending a law � even though the current governor opposes the law and state lawmakers historically defeated similar laws.

The law in dispute narrowly passed the Legislature in 2003 before a federal judge struck it down.

�I guess that�s all a matter of perspective. Certainly it�s discretionary whether you file a petition with the United States Supreme Court. I didn�t think that was a discretionary decision given my duties under New Hampshire law,� said Ayotte.

�I feel like I have a duty to defend the New Hampshire law to the fullest extent that I can. And in this case, that involved filing a petition with the United States Supreme Court because the issues involved had to do with federal constitutional issues and they are the ultimate arbiter of those issues,� she added.

The law requires notice to a parent before a girl younger than 18 can get an abortion unless the doctor believes immediate surgery is required to save her life. The girl also can get a judge to approve an abortion without notice to a parent.

Many of the justices� questions were about the law�s lack of an exception for girls whose health would be endangered by delays but whose lives are not in danger.

Ayotte said the justices focused on whether the lower court should have struck the entire law or just the section dealing with a health exception.

She said the court could instead say New Hampshire could not enforce the law �in the context of the rare case where a medical emergency arises and a physician is unable to obtain a timely judicial bypass.�

That would mean notice would have to be given to parents whose daughters� health was not an issue, she said.

�And so that way the parental notification act will still be in place in our state,� she said.

And if the court is deadlocked on the issue and asks for the case to be reargued?

�I felt pretty prepared for this argument, but I suppose there would be more preparation to do if we had to do it again,� she said.

Ayotte � who shared the moment with family members � said getting a good night�s sleep was at the top of her agenda when she got home.

Lawmakers mixed on notification law

By HATTIE BERNSTEIN, Telegraph Staff
[email protected]

Published: Thursday, Dec. 1, 2005

Cindy Rosenwald, a first-term state representative, was hosting a Women�s Rights Watch party at her Wellington Street home Wednesday evening.

The topic of conversation at the party � one of six held statewide by reproductive rights activists � was the state�s parental notification law being defended by Attorney General Kelly Ayotte before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The law requires that a parent be notified before an abortion can be performed on a minor unless the life of the mother-to-be is at stake.

This is the first abortion case the court has heard in five years. The outcome could affect abortion laws in all 50 states, potentially making it harder for young women to terminate a pregnancy and making it more difficult for an individual to challenge a state�s law.

Rosenwald, who sits on the Health and Human Services and Elderly Affairs Committee, said the 2003 law not only fails to protect a woman�s health, but also interferes with the doctor-patient relationship. In addition, it mistakenly assumes that all parents would be reasonable and supportive, even in cases of incest.

�You can�t legislate good family communication,� said Rosenwald, who has a 15-year-old daughter. �I talk to my children about sex and responsibility, and I truly believe they would come to me, but I don�t want their care held up in an emergency waiting for a judge.�

Nashua Democrat Rep. Claudette Jean does not agree.

�I voted for parental notification,� said the 14-year lawmaker, and elementary school teacher for 39 years. �I feel that a child of that age needs guidance. The killing of a fetus should be mutual consent, the child and parents.�

Jean supports a health exception is rare circumstances.

�I�ve always felt if it means life and death of the woman, that would be the exception,� she said.

State Rep. Terie Norelli, a Democrat from Portsmouth who was in Washington, D.C., to witness the arguments before the high court, opposes the law and doesn�t want the court to preserve it by adding a health exception.

�If the court feels that a health exception is necessary in order for this law to be constitutional, then they should send it back to New Hampshire. The New Hampshire Legislature is the rightful place for us to be making a decision how to address the concerns they have raised,� she said during a telephone conference.

The issue was more cut and dry for the Rev. Charlie Viens of Faith Baptist Church in Nashua. A supporter of parental notification, Viens said he also believes a doctor�s obligation is to save every life, including that of the fetus.

�For the doctor, it�s his creed to save the life of the patient,� said the pastor. �The real issue here is, �Which patient?� a 15-year-old girl or the baby?�

State Senator David Gottesman (D-Nashua) said parental notification isn�t what�s at stake.

�The real issue is whether a teen in a medical crisis should be denied medical care because the government wants to make a political point about abortion,� Gottesman said. �Laws involving teens and abortion have one goal: to keep teens safe from harm. A law preventing a teen from getting appropriate care in a medical emergency doesn�t prevent harm.�

Gottesman said he was also concerned that the state law, if upheld, would affect laws in other states.

�This law has broad implications for all abortion laws,� he said.

�It gives the green light for states to pass new laws that deny women abortions in medical emergencies. Doctors should be allowed to make decisions about treating patients.�

Hattie Bernstein can be reached at 594-6439 or [email protected]. The Associated Press contributed to this story.

***
NOTIFICATION CASE

THE CASE: Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, et al.

BACKGROUND: In 2003, New Hampshire passed a law requiring parental notification before a minor could have an abortion. Shortly before the law was to take effect, Planned Parenthood convinced a federal judge to stop it.

The decision has been upheld by several lower courts and a federal appeals court. State Attorney General Kelly Ayotte petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to rule on the matter.

QUESTIONS: Ayotte has asked the justice how abortion laws should be challenged and how the law must excuse girls from telling a parent when their health is in jeopardy.