Harry Blackmun

“ A minor, whose very purpose in going through a judicial-bypass proceeding is to avoid notifying a hostile or abusive parent, would be most alarmed at signing her name and the name of her parent on the complaint form. Generalized statements concerning the confidentiality of records would be of small comfort, even if she were aware of them. True anonymity is essential to an effective, meaningful bypass. In the face of the forms that the minor must actually deal with, the State's assurances that the minor's privacy will be protected ring very hollow. ”

“ The State has offered no justification for its failure to provide specific guidelines to be followed by the juvenile court to ensure anonymity for the pregnant minor-even though it has in place a procedure to assure the anonymity of juveniles who have been adjudicated delinquent or unruly. See Ohio Rev.Code Ann. § 2151.358 (1976) (detailed provision for sealing record and for expungement of record) .
"A woman and her physician will necessarily be more reluctant to choose an abortion if there exists a possibility that her decision and her identity will become known publicly." ”

“ I agree that parental interest in the welfare of their children is "particularly strong where a normal family relationship exists." Bellotti II, 443 U.S., at 648, 99 S.Ct., at 3050 (opinion of Powell, J.) (emphasis added) . A minor needs no statute to seek the support of loving parents. Where trust and confidence exist within the family structure, it is likely that communication already exists. [4] If that compassionate support is lacking, an unwanted pregnancy is a poor way to generate it. ”

“ It is the unfortunate denizens of that world, often frightened and forlorn, lacking the comfort of loving parental guidance and mature advice, who most need the constitutional protection that the Ohio Legislature set out to make as difficult as possible to obtain. ”

“ Contrary to the majority's theory, if the minor presents evidence that she is mature, she still must satisfy the judge that this is so, even without this heightened standard of proof. The use of a heightened standard in the very special context of Bellotti § court-bypass procedure does little to facilitate a fair and reliable result and imports an element from the adversarial process into this unique inquiry where it has no rightful place. ”

“ The Ohio statute provides that if the juvenile or appellate courts fail to act within the statutory time frame, an abortion without parental notification is "constructively" authorized. Although Ohio's Legislature may have intended this provision to expedite the bypass procedure, the confusion that will result from the constructive-authorization provision will add further delay to the judicial-bypass proceeding, and is yet one more obstruction in the path of the pregnant minor. ”

“ Even if the State's interest in the health of the minor were the motivation behind the provision, the State never explains why it is that a physician interested in obtaining information, or a parent interested in providing information to a physician, cannot do so following the actual notification by some other competent professional, such as a nurse or counselor. ”

“ For too many young pregnant women, parental involvement in this most intimate decision threatens harm, rather than promises comfort. [5] The Court's selective blindness to this stark social reality is bewildering and distressing. Lacking the protection that young people typically find in their intimate family associations, these minors are desperately in need of constitutional protection. The sexually or physically abused minor may indeed be "lonely or even terrified," ante, at 520, not of the abortion procedure, but of an abusive family member. ”

“ The abortion decision differs in important ways from other decisions that may be made during minority. The need to preserve the constitutional right and the unique nature of the abortion decision, especially when made by a minor, require a State to act with particular sensitivity when it legislates to foster parental involvement in this matter. ”

“ This often may be the way legislation is enacted, but few are the instances where the injustice is so evident and the impediments so gross as those inflicted by the Ohio Legislature on these vulnerable and powerless young women. ”

“ But those "most cases" need not rely on constitutional protections that are so vital for others. I have cautioned before that there is "another world 'out there' " that the Court "either chooses to ignore or fears to recognize." ”

“ The majority does not decide whether the Ohio parental-notice statute must contain a judicial-bypass procedure because the majority concludes that the bypass procedure in the statute "meets the requirements identified for parental consent statutes in Danforth, Bellotti, Ashcroft, and Akron." ”