Colorado and other states have expanded access to abortion, but not for teenagers

From 2022, Colorado and 10 other states Voters’ initiatives were adopted to protect or expand access to abortion. Already, Seven of these statesIn this color, they require people under 18 to obtain permission or notify the parent before receiving abortion services.

In January 2025. Colleagues and I published research Using in -depth interviews with 33 people aged 15 to 22 in Colorado, who considered or obtained abortion care in 2020–2023. Our study suggests that the right of parental notification in Colorado delays teenage people to abortion, complicates intricate family relationships and forces undesirable disclosure of pregnancy and abortion.

As a nurse, I provide health care for teenage people and their families for over two decades, and as a researcher I spent the past 10 years of studying young Experience of people with regulations regarding parents’ involvement.

Tens of thousands of teenage people affected by the provisions on the involvement of parents Every year. These rights from this project threaten their abilities make your own pregnancy decisions.

Extending access to abortion, but not for teenagers

In the United States, 38 states allow abortion services at some point in pregnancy. Of these 24 countries have regulations regarding parents’ involvement. And of them, 12 states require teenage people to obtain the consent of a parent or guardian; Seven requires teenage people to notify a parent or guardian; And five require both notification and consent. Three states – Kansas, Missouri and North Dakota – require the involvement of both parents.

In 2024, Colorado adopted a constitutional amendment This protects the right to abortion and allows Financing through Medicaid. However, Colorado still requires parental notification for people under 18 for the purpose of obtaining abortion services. There were no last efforts based on the state to remove this law.

Proponents of parental rights consider that the regulations support parent-child communication and improve the decision-making decisions. Studies show that this is a wish: these rights Do not improve communication or making decisionsAnd instead, it harms teenagers.

We found it Even in a state like Colorado It has it Extended access to abortionThe law creates barriers to services. Teenage people require time to find out how there is a law and to come up with how to follow them. This applies to both teenage people who can tell parents and those who cannot. Delays due to regulations regarding parents’ involvement It can boost the costs of abortion services, reduce the selection of abortion methods by teenagers and push teenagers across the gestational border of the clinic or condition.

In the case of some teenage people in Colorado, according to the law, it caused unwanted disclosure of their pregnancy and abortion for parents and others, which is related negative results of mental health And he exposes some teenage people to emotional or physical abuse.

Judicial region

In the states that order parents’ involvement, teenage people who believe that they cannot involve a parent can try to obtain a judiciary. The teenage man must go to court prove to the judge that they are mature and well informed Or this abortion without parents’ involvement is in their best interest.

Data from MassachusettsIN IllinoisIN Texas and Florida He suggests that from 6% to 23% of teenage people who had an abortion consisted of a court beltway. In some states, such as Florida, up to 13% of young people who asked for beltway were rejected.

In our previous studies, teenage people from Texas described the process of a judicial bypass As troublesome, humiliating and traumatic.

In our up-to-date research, teenage people in Colorado described the trial of the judicial circumventing as a bothersome. They said that they disrupted the school, was “embarrassing”, “fear” provocative and “nervous nerves”.

A court circumvention also Delays of access to abortion. For one participant in our study in Colorado, delay from two to three weeks contributed to her inability to obtain the sought after abortion, because it exceeded its pregnancy limit of the selected clinic.

Another participant thought that the process of circumventing the court would last too long, so instead tried to end pregnancy herself. She took vitamin C, which is not effective and considered, but did not take immense doses of without a prescription, such as ibuprofen, which could cause damage to the organs.

Delays and delays of the court bypass led the parents of some participants to find out about pregnancy. This unwanted disclosure violated the privacy that the court beltway is to protect.

The future of abortion restrictions

Units such as Colorado, Maryland and Montana Provide access to persons looking for abortion services who live in 18 states with prohibitions of early pregnancy. For example, Colorado had an increase of 110% In the number of abortion among teenage people outside the state between 2020 and 2022.

However, the provisions on parental involvement in these states may merge the barriers that they face while traveling beyond the state.

The provisions regarding parents’ involvement were The first limitation of abortion at the state level allowed by the Supreme Court after ROE against Wade Decision In 1973, which was overthrown in 2022. There is currently a similar pattern.

Decision -makers in some states with prohibitions of abortion, such as IdahoIN Tennessee AND MississippiThey try to stop people from traveling outside their state of services by attacking teenage people. These proposed regulations would check that a crime will facilitate a teenage person under 18 to leave the state for abortion services without parental consent.

Some state -owners are also trying Humiliate contraception attacking teenage people. For example, Federal courts maintained the refusal of Texas To allow minors confidentially Contraception in clinics financed by federal.

Teenage people know who to trust

Our studies have shown that teenage people in Colorado They want to support their parents or guardians Considering abortion, some thought it was not unthreatening to ask for it.

Confirmation Previous researchWe found many reasons why teenage people were unable to reveal their pregnancy to their parent. They include the parent’s concern, the feeling that the parent did not respect their pregnancy decision, and not to live with a support or not supporting relationship with a parent.

In addition to these reasons, teenage people also He thoroughly predicted his parents’ reactions. Teenage people talked about emotional apply and abandoning or feeling forced to continue pregnancy or abortion when a parent who did not feel that they could say about pregnancy. Research, including ours New study in ColoradoIt shows that we can trust teenage people to decide who to engage in a pregnancy decision.

Read more of our stories about Colorado.