Changes to Parental Consent Requirements for Abortion in Massachusetts and Impact on Timeliness of Care for Adolescents Aged 16 to 17 Years

Changes to Parental Consent Requirements for Abortion in Massachusetts and Impact on Timeliness of Care for Adolescents Aged 16 to 17 Years
Isabel Fulcher, Kara Kimball, Zarah Rosen, Jennifer Fortin, Namita Arunkumar, Danielle Gelfand, Elizabeth Janiak, Luu Ireland
American Journal of Public Health, March 2025
Abstract
Objectives
To measure the effect of the ROE Act, which eliminated parental consent requirements for abortion for individuals ages 16 to 17 years, on abortion timing for adolescents in this age group in Massachusetts.
Methods
The primary outcome was gestational duration at abortion for individuals aged 16 to 19 years at Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts from 2017 to 2022. Our control group included abortions among those aged 18 to 19 years. In our primary analysis, we used a comparative interrupted time series with a linear model to capture temporal trends, seasonality, whether an abortion was undergone during the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, previous abortion, and race/ethnicity categories.
Results
Minors aged 16 to 17 years underwent 749 abortions during the study. Individuals aged 18 to 19 years underwent 2773 abortions. The ROE Act resulted in a 5.46-day decrease in gestational duration at abortion among minors (95% confidence interval = −11.82, 0.91).
Conclusions
Removal of the parental involvement requirement for adolescents aged 16 to 17 years in Massachusetts led to minors undergoing abortions at earlier gestational durations, highlighting the importance of potential impacts of similar legislation to decrease barriers to abortion access for minors.