Devastating impacts have resulted from US state laws that require healthcare providers to notify a parent when their minor child elects to have an abortion, Human Rights Watch (HRW) warned on Wednesday.

In its formal report, “Whose Abortion Is It? The Harms of State-Mandated Parental Notification for Abortion and Judicial Bypass in the United States,” HRW explored the impacts of parental notification requirements:

Policymakers often frame parental notification as a less onerous requirement because it does not require explicit permission from a parent or legal guardian. However, this report finds that parental notification more typically functions much like parental consent in that it grants parents a de facto veto power over a young person’s abortion decision. When parents are able to withhold financial support, restrict young people’s movement or access to communication or transportation, or threaten life-altering consequences, they can effectively block young people’s access to abortion care even if the law requires only notice and not explicit consent.

HRW further argued, “Lawmakers in states with parental notification laws should repeal these laws and affirm young people’s rights to make fundamental decisions about their bodies and lives.”

Researchers at HRW and at If/When/How interviewed 62 healthcare providers, attorneys, advocates, and public health researchers in the six states that have a judicial bypass process and currently only require parental notification, not parental consent, for minors seeking abortions. Collectively, they found that “judicial bypass delays care, endangers young people, and can present an insurmountable barrier for some.”

Thirty-eight states require some form of parental involvement in a minor’s decision to have an abortion. Since the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Center, the number of clinician-provided abortions nationwide has increased, meaning fewer clinics serving more people, many of whom must travel considerable distances to access care.

Emancipated youth are exempt from the parental notification requirement in the six states—Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Iowa, Montana, and New Hampshire. Colorado, Iowa, and Montana laws allow exemption from certain parental notification requirements if minors seeking abortions were victims of physical, sexual, or emotional abuse at the hand of a parent or guardian.