Maine Abortion Statues of 1979: Testing the Constitutional Limits

In June of 1979 the 109th Maine Legislature enacted four statutes dealing with abortion. The public and legislative debate on these issues was intense and emotional. Due to the great scope of the subject, this Comment will be limited to discussion of the statutes dealing with informed consent and parental notification, which directly raise issues of individual constitutional rights. The constitutional implications of these two statutes will be examined, and the likely outcome of a constitutional challenge to each will be suggested. Because there are as yet no Supreme Court decisions directly on point for either statute as written, this analysis will be valuable not only for evaluating the constitutionality of the Maine legislation but also for analyzing similar legislation enacted in other jurisdictions.