Media Center: Press Release

Physician Tells Real-Life Story about Need for Patient Confidentiality; Denounces H.R. 748, the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act (CIANA)

New York, NY—The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote tomorrow on H.R. 748, the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act (CIANA) Act. Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health expresses profound concern over this legislation that constructs insurmountable obstacles for young women seeking abortion services and the physicians providing the services. In overlooking the needs of young women in favor of political posturing, this bill puts patients’ lives and health at risk and makes criminals out of caring physicians as they provide the best evidence-based health care possible. It is clear that H.R. 748 serves not as a conduit to protect young women but as a political tool to prevent access to abortion services.

Warren Seigel, MD, FAAP, FSAM, and Director of Adolescent Medicine and Chair of Pediatrics at Coney Island Hospital, explains just how dangerous mandatory parental consent laws can be:

"I have had many patients for whom the promise of confidentiality has meant the difference between life and death. One such patient was a 15-year-old Pakistani woman who, at the time she was diagnosed as being pregnant, expressed great fear that she would be sent back to Pakistan if her parents found out. She admitted that she had became sexually active six months prior and was afraid since her family only believed in arranged marriages and disliked the idea of her association with boys in general. After assessing her maturity level, a social worker agreed with me that confidentiality was appropriate in this case and the young woman decided to terminate the pregnancy. A few years later she confided in her mother the details of her abortion. Her parents were enraged and she was sent back to Pakistan for an arranged marriage against her will. Before the wedding she committed suicide.

"As a physician, I always encourage young women to involve a trusted adult in their decision to have an abortion—and the overwhelming majority of my young patients do involve their parents. Those who are unable to do so have good reason such as the threat of physical or emotional abuse upon disclosure, or their pregnancy is a result of incest. The government cannot mandate healthy family communication, and any attempts to do so will yield devastating results."