LINCOLN — The Nebraska Supreme Court granted permission Friday for a 17-year-old girl to get an abortion without notifying her mother.
The court ruled that the girl, who will turn 18 in less than two months, is an emancipated woman and not subject to the parental notification law.
“It is not for this court to determine the correctness of petitioner’s decision” about having an abortion, the ruling said.
The decision was issued less than a month after the Dakota County District Court heard arguments in the case.
The lower court ruled that Nebraska’s parental notification law applied and that the girl must notify her mother at least 48 hours before having the procedure.
The girl’s attorneys did not return messages seeking comment.
Julie Schmit-Albin, executive director of Nebraska Right to Life, did not directly comment on the ruling.
But she noted that the district court judge had spoken and met with the girl and might have seen something the Supreme Court did not.
Schmit-Albin added that she hopes the girl receives information about the help available to her and does not go through with the abortion.
The girl, whose case was presented anonymously, lives with her boyfriend of two years and their 2-month-old child.
According to the ruling, she has graduated from high school and enrolled in college. She works two jobs, owns a vehicle and pays for her own and her son’s bills.
She does not know her father and does not receive money from her mother, according to the court documents.
Instead, she told the court that her mother demands money from her and has drained a shared checking account into which the girl had put her earnings.
The girl also testified that her mother became “very angry” during the first pregnancy and refused to speak to her until after the baby was born.
“Petitioner has demonstrated that the parental ties of care and support between petitioner and her mother have been broken and petitioner is living an independent life,” the court concluded.
Under Nebraska law, a parent must be notified before a minor gets an abortion. A court can waive the requirement by finding the minor to be mature and capable of giving informed consent or by finding that an abortion without notification is in the girl’s best interests.
In this case, the high court said the girl was emancipated and didn’t require a waiver.
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