Can My Parents Force Me to Have a Baby? Teens and the Right to Abortion Post-Dobbs

• In Event: Reproductive (In)Justice After the Fall of Roe

Abstract

In the wake of Dobbs, the rights of teens living in abortion-restrictive states have become far more precarious. Although typically a challenging experience, the court bypass option nonetheless has offered those who cannot involve a parent an alternative pathway to obtaining an abortion. However, this once constitutionally required route is now in jeopardy in abortion-hostile states, raising the specter of coerced parenthood in the name of fetal rights. The threat of reproductive coercion looms larger given current efforts by antiabortion lawmakers to criminalize taking a teen across state lines for an abortion, as exemplified by Idaho’s recent abortion trafficking law

Presenters

• shoshanna ehrlich, WGS, UMass Boston

• Jamie Sabino, Mass Law Reform Institute