New Hampshire's attorney general today asked a federal judge to reject a suit filed by abortion advocates that seeks to overturn the state's parental-notification law, LifeNews.com reported.
The American Civil Liberties Union, Planned Parenthood of Northern New England and several other organizations joined together to file the suit in November 2003. The alliance sought to have the parental-notification law -- which requires abortionists to give parents of a minor at least 48 hours notice of the procedure -- declared unconstitutional because it lacked a proper health exception.
After a lower court ruled in favor of the abortion advocates, the state Supreme Court determined the court was wrong to overturn the entire law. The high court asked the lower court to uphold the portion of the law that meets constitutional requirements and reject the sections that don't.
While abortion advocates submitted an amicus brief that claims such a process should be left to the Legislature, Attorney General Kelly Ayotte said the law contains a severability section that allows any portion determined unenforceable to be stricken with the remainder kept intact. She has asked U.S. District Judge Joseph DiClerico to do just that.
