ABORTION CONSENT LAW UPHELD : STATE JUSTICES RESTRICT MINORS.

Byline: Mary Beth Alexander Daily News Staff Writer

The state Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a 1987 law requiring unmarried women under 18 to get permission from a parent or judge for an abortion.

In a 4-3 decision, the court overturned an appellate court ruling that the law violated the privacy of minors. As a result, the parental consent requirement - which never had been enforced because of legal challenges - could take effect in 30 days.

The American Civil Liberties Union said Thursday it will petition for a rehearing of the case. It also said it will seek a six-month grace period to give abortion clinics a chance to provide legal representation for minors who want to get judicial consent.

Twenty-seven other states have laws requiring parental or other adult notification or consent for a minor's abortion, and the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld such laws.

Although no firm numbers are kept, advocates on both sides of the issue have estimated the number of minors' abortions in California at 30,000 or more annually. The state legislative analyst has projected that as many as 14,000 young women could seek to bypass parental consent in the courts.

Abortion foes declared the ruling a major victory, saying that it confirmed their contention that parents should be consulted when a teen wants to abort a pregnancy.

``This is such a return to sanity,'' said Teri Reisser, executive director of the Right to Life League of Southern California.

Planned Parenthood officials said that rather than consult with their parents, many teens will opt for dangerous, illegal abortions or out-of-state procedures, which could pose health risks because of the need to travel long distances afterward.

``This is providing a roadblock,'' said Suellen Craig, executive director of Planned Parenthood Los Angeles. ``Our point is that even if one teen gets into serious trouble physically and mentally from this law, then this law isn't worth it.''

The court's majority in Thursday's decision was made up of Justices Malcolm Lucas, Stanley Mosk, Marvin Baxter and Armand Arabian, with the opinion written by Mosk. It said minors don't have the same privacy rights as adults.

``We are not called upon to approve or disapprove of (the law) as a matter of social policy,'' Mosk wrote. ``We must undertake the more modest, if difficult, task of determining whether (it) passes muster under those provisions of our constitution protecting the rights to privacy and equal protection. We conclude that it does.''

Dissenting justices Joyce Luther Kennard, Kathryn M. Werdegar and Ronald M. George argued that parental consent would cause stress and embarrassment to teens. Some may delay seeking approval, they said, prompting them to receive unsafe, later-term abortions or give birth to children they are not equipped to care for.

Opponents also argued that the law could jam the state's already taxed judicial system.

Currently, a teen-ager can obtain an abortion without talking to a parent. But a medical provider must consider her mature and informed enough about the consequences of her decision to undergo the procedure.

Once the law takes effect, anyone who performs an abortion on a minor without the proper consent could be fined or jailed.

Though originally approved in 1987, an injunction kept the law from going into effect. A San Francisco trial judge in 1991 found that the legislation violated teen-agers' rights to privacy and equal protection, and an appellate court upheld the ruling three years later.

Abortion opponents said Thursday's ruling was another step toward making most abortions illegal someday.

``I think that this is certainly a very large piece of the dismantling,'' said Susan Carpenter-McMillan, head of the conservative, Pasadena-based Women's Coalition.

Planned Parenthood officials announced Thursday that a toll-free information hot line about the law will be established as soon as next week.

Craig said the ruling does not mean that Planned Parenthood will no longer serve teens in need.

``The very important message that we want to get across to teens in this county is that we will continue to provide all our services to them,'' Craig said. ``We will be there for them.''

The ACLU has 30 days to petition for a rehearing, said Carol Sobel, ACLU senior staff council. Meanwhile, the civil liberties organization will ask for a six-month grace period to line up lawyers willing to represent, for free, teens seeking judicial consent, and to allow agencies to determine the processes for parental consent.

``We want to make sure we have lawyers that are trained to represent the minor . . . and that every minor who seeks to obtain an abortion has her rights exercised quickly,'' Sobel said.

Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles said the decision is important because ``at least one of the parents should be involved in the decision.''

``Nowadays, kids can't even get aspirin at school without their parent's permission,'' Mahony said. ``They should at least have a say in something as important as this.''

He said the church has always supported the move to require parental permission and the issue was discussed at the recent Catholic Conference.

``If the decision would have went the wrong way, that would have been a real tragedy,'' he said.

SOURCE: Daily News Staff Writer Jeanette DeSantis contributed to this story.