Colorado Physician Challenges Forced Parental Involvement for Young People Seeking an Abortion
07.09.2025 – (PRESS RELEASE) A physician has filed a lawsuit in state court challenging a Colorado measure which forces young people – regardless of their personal circumstances – to notify a parent before they can obtain an abortion. In most cases, the measure withholds abortion care from young people for at least 48 hours after a parent has been notified.
“Colorado’s Parental Notice Requirement intrudes on young people’s privacy, and in some cases risks their health and safety,” said Dr. Rebecca Cohen, the plaintiff in today’s legal challenge. “The law undermines the sacred doctor-patient relationship and can push young people further away from safe, timely medical care. I am proud to support young people in this legal challenge.”
Every major medical organization whose members provide adolescent or reproductive healthcare, including the American Medical Association, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the American Academy of Pediatrics, opposes forced parental involvement laws because they hurt rather than protect young people and their families.
Most young people willingly involve a parent in their pregnancy decision. Young people who do not typically have unavailable, incapacitated, abusive, or unsupportive parents. That includes parents who are likely to physically harm or emotionally alienate them, kick them out of their home, or coerce them into carrying to term upon learning that they intend to obtain an abortion. Colorado’s Parental Notice Requirement leaves the young people facing these circumstances with no choice but to petition a judge for permission to end their pregnancy.
“Colorado has long sought to protect people seeking abortion care. That includes people who are unable to obtain that care in their own states in the wake of devastating abortion bans across the country,” said Rupali Sharma, Co-Director, Litigation at the Lawyering Project. “This lawsuit is an opportunity for Colorado to honor its commitment by no longer excluding young people from its critical protections.”
Dr. Cohen is represented by the Lawyering Project and Morrison Foerster. The Lawyering Project also represents trusted adults in Tennessee, Missouri, and Idaho who are challenging laws that restrict young people’s autonomy and access to abortion.
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