American Civil Liberties Union

Reviewing the legal standard by which courts consider abortion restrictions and whether laws regulating abortion must protect women's health. DECIDED

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Photographs from the November 30 Press Conference

NEWS Supreme Court Ruling Recognizes Protections for Women's Health (1/18/2006) Court Urged to Protect Women's Health (11/30/2005)

FEATURES Answers to Key Questions About Ayotte C-SPAN covers Ayotte (off-site link)

Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood et al. began in 2003 as a challenge to a New Hampshire law restricting teenagers' access to abortion. The law requires doctors to notify a parent at least 48 hours before performing an abortion for a teenager. The law includes no exception for medical emergencies.

In reviewing this case, the Supreme Court will consider two questions: one, must an abortion restriction, not just New Hampshire's, include a medical emergency exception, and two, can doctors and women continue to challenge dangerous abortion restrictions and ask the courts to strike them down before they can harm women?