Kids, Sex and Doctors

I don't think that teen-agers should have to ask their parents about contraceptives or abortions; these are their own concerns.

Parents may disagree, but many teen-agers and a growing number of physicians concur with that statement by Leah Newman, 16, a member of a New York City high school group advocating freedom of sex information. Civil liberties groups are also leaning toward the concept that teen-agers should be able to get medical services where sex is concerned, without involving their parents. In a U.S. district court, two pregnant 16-year-old Boston girls recently won a delay in enforcement of a state law that requires them to obtain parental permission for abortions. But despite some progress, the medical rights of those under 18 remain unclear, particularly when it comes to preventing or ending pregnancy.

In many states, minors must obtain parental permission to get a prescription for the Pill or to obtain an abortion. Only 23 states have clearly recognized the rights of minors to use contraceptives; in only 16 states can juveniles get abortions on their own. Some court decisions have actually restricted the medical sex rights of minors. The Utah Supreme Court has overturned a lower court ruling that would have eliminated the requirement for parental permission for contraceptives. The court held that giving contraceptives to unmarried minors would make them "more likely to commit the crime of fornication and to become infected with venereal disease."

Emancipated Youth. Some states still have laws requiring doctors to obtain parental permission before administering even emergency treatment to minors. But no physician who begins treatment necessary to save a child before the parents can be located is likely to be prosecuted. Nor will many state attorneys act against doctors who provide sex-related care to minors without parental approval. Many physicians would nonetheless like to see restrictions further eased. "We have failed to recognize the rights of children as people in many areas," says Dr. Lee Salk, pediatric psychologist at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center. "Teenagers should be treated as if they have the capacity for making decisions."

One step in that direction was the adoption in 1971 of the 26th Amendment to the Constitution, which lowered the voting age to 18. Forty-one states have also lowered the age of majority from 21 to 18. As a result, 18-year-olds now have fewer problems obtaining sex-related medical services. Their right to any type of medical care has been recognized in 35 states. In all but two states (Nebraska and Wyoming), 18-year-olds do not need parental consent to get most pregnancy-related health services, including abortion. And all 50 states allow anyone over 18 to be treated for venereal disease on their own.

The states are now extending medical rights to those under 18. In all states but Wisconsin, younger teen-agers already have the right to get treatment for VD without telling their parents. Some states are also making other medical services available to the under-18 group. In an attempt to meet the needs of its floating population of youngsters, many of them runaways, California enacted its "emancipated youth laws" in 1968. These statutes permit anyone over 12 to get VD treatment and allow anyone over 15 who is living apart from parents to get many types of treatment on his own.

California physicians welcomed the change. "We're in the business of helping people," explains Dr. Lawrence Cosgrove, administrator of one of eight youth clinics established by Los Angeles County under the new law. Before the laws were passed, he says, he could not ask another physician to help a minor in many cases without "putting the doctor in jeopardy."

A few other states make it at least as easy to get help. New York places virtually no legal restrictions upon a physician's right to perform abortions on minors or to prescribe contraceptives for them, and local Planned Parenthood organizations will help obtain abortions in the state without parental consent. New Jersey allows minors of any age to obtain pregnancy care. Oregon has lowered the age of medical consent to 15; Alabama has dropped it to 14.

Changing Society. Some parents, feeling that their authority over their children will be further undercut, are dismayed by the trend. But there seems to be growing--if reluctant--acceptance of the fact that in a changing society, such measures are necessary. Sexual activity among teen-agers has increased enormously in recent years, and so have sex-related problems. According to studies conducted by the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, three out of every ten teen-agers who have had sexual intercourse have at least one out-of-wedlock pregnancy; three-quarters of all teen-age pregnancies occur outside marriage. Even if the baby and mother come through the pregnancy in good physical health, the odds are that the immature mother and the unwanted infant will emerge from the experience with serious psychological scars.

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