Devastating impacts result 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 with

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