Sixteen states are urging the Supreme Court to take up a challenge to a Washington law that allows minors to pursue abortions and sex changes. The law allows minors to have access to shelters or host homes without notifying parents if they have a “compelling reason.”
“The legislature intends to remove barriers to accessing temporary, licensed shelter accommodations for youth seeking certain protected health care services,” the law states.
“If there are compelling reasons not to notify the parent, the shelter or organization must instead notify the department,” the law says. A “compelling reason” includes the minor “seeking or receiving protected health care services,” which refers to gender-related services or “reproductive health care,” such as abortion.
The coalition of states argues that the policy is an affront to parental rights. “Parental rights have taken on new focus in Washington, where youth shelters may choose not to notify parents of their child’s safety, health, or location so long as their runaway child seeks ‘gender-affirming treatment,'” the filing states, a move that the state officials claim denies parents of their “right to consent to or refuse treatment for their child,” including “‘gender-affirming care’ or other medical services.”
“Parents also suffer by not receiving any notice of their child’s presence at the shelter; per Washington, parents need not be informed if their runaway child is even alive,” the filing, led by Florida and Idaho, says. “And even if the shelter chooses to notify parents, the child’s location and medical records may be withheld and their return delayed significantly or indefinitely.”
At the time the bill first passed in 2023, Senate Republican Leader John Braun said the bill “would disenfranchise loving parents who deserve to have a say in the care of their teenage children.” He noted that “the only thing” the bill would do is “cause harm by driving a wedge between vulnerable kids and their parents, at a time when a teen lacks the perception and judgment to make critical life-altering decisions.”
