[Zahn:] So, if you have a daughter who is under the age of 18 and she wants to have an abortion, should she have to tell you? Well, it's a controversial question that is part of one of the most contentious issues in this country. And, today, the Supreme Court took up that question. Here's chief national correspondent John King.
[John King, Cnn Chief National Correspondent:] The scene outside reflected the stakes inside, the first abortion case before the Supreme Court in five years and the first since Bush appointee John Roberts became chief justice at issue, a New Hampshire law requiring a minor notify a parent before receiving an abortion and whether lower courts were right to invalidate the entire law because it does not provide an exemption if the health of the minor is at risk. At the Supreme Court, Planned Parenthood attorney Jennifer Dalven challenged the state's assertion a judge could quickly grant a waiver in health emergencies.
[Jennifer Dalven, American Civil Liberties Union Attorney:] Once a minor arrives in the emergency room, it is too late for her to go to court.
[King:] In his few comments, Chief Justice Roberts sounded sympathetic to the state's argument that the broad parental notification requirement should be allowed to take effect, even if the court rules the language dealing with health emergencies is inadequate.
[John G. Roberts, Supreme Court Chief Justice:] Why should you be able to challenge the act as a whole if your objection is so narrowly focused?
[King:] The New Hampshire case is not a direct challenge to the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion rights ruling, but it could change the legal standard for challenging other abortion restrictions.
[Amanda:] Having an abortion has absolutely made me political.
[King:] New Hampshire resident Amanda is 20 now and a senior in college. For six years, only a tiny circle of friends and family knew her secret, but she decided to speak out because she views New Hampshire's law as part of a dangerous trend.
[Amanda:] I believe that these laws are being put on the books by anti-abortion folks in order to erode access to abortion. I believe that they have nothing to do with strengthening families.
[King:] A signed copy of the law hangs at New Hampshire Right to Life headquarters, where its supporters promise to try again if they lose at the Supreme Court.
[Barbara Hagan , New Hampshire State Representative:] If the court says no, then we do what we do when we get struck down. And we go back to the drawing board. We take into consideration why the court struck the law down, and we retool the bill, so that it can be law.
[King:] In Wednesday's arguments, Justice David Souter, who once served as New Hampshire's attorney general, suggested the state legislature appeared determined to test the limits.
[David Souter, Supreme Court Justice:] They deliberately said, the only statute we want is one without a health exception.
[King:] Which is why this case is being so closely watched by all sides of the abortion debate.
[Hagan:] I think it will energize it, either way, because there will be a significant domino effect if New Hampshire's law is struck down.
[King:] Exemptions allowing abortions when the health or life of the mother is at risk are key to existing Supreme Court precedent warning against any undue burden on obtaining an abortion. That standard was shaped by retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who was on the bench for Wednesday's arguments, but who soon could be replaced by Bush nominee Samuel Alito, who both sides in the abortion debate believe is more open than O'Connor to abortion restrictions. John King, CNN, Washington.
[Zahn:] And joining me now to debate this case, Charmaine Yoest of the Family Research Council, which favors parental notification laws, and writer and activist Jennifer Baumgardner, who opposes them. Welcome to both of you. So, Charmaine, you happen to be the mother of five children. And you know that so many young girls really don't want their parents to know. Why do you think parental notification is critical?
[Charmaine Yoest, Senior Policy Fellow, Family Research Council:] Well, look, Paula, my daughter is 12 years old, my oldest daughter, and she wants to get her ears pierced right now. She can't go off and get her ears pierced without me signing a permission slip. This is a major medical surgery that we're talking about letting children make a decision for themselves about. This isn't about abortion. It's not about overturning Roe vs. Wade. It's about the rights and responsibilities of parents to know what's going on with their kids.
[Zahn:] So Jennifer, why shouldn't parents know?
[Jennifer Baumgardner, Writer And Activist:] Well, I'm really sensitive to what she's saying, because I do think that girls are in a crisis, usually with an unplanned pregnancy at a young age like that, that they do need their parents support. And it's just that restrictions don't work. And I can say this from personal experience. When I was 15, my sister was 16, she got pregnant. My parents would have supported her, absolutely.
[Zahn:] Your parents happen to be pro-choice.
[Baumgardner:] They happen to be pro-choice. My dad's a doctor. She didn't even have the money for the abortion, we had to jump we had to do such extraordinary things in order for Andrea to get her abortion without telling my parents, because it's a parental notification state in North Dakota.
[Zahn:] You actually went to the judge to be excluded from the state law, which allowed you to travel across state lines and have an abortion.
[Baumgardner:] Right, and that is what young women do. I mean, if having these laws in place actually encouraged girls to tell their parents, I think I would be more open to them. But I've seen how they just don't work. They're punitive at a moment when we just need to have more support.
[Zahn:] Well, what about that, Charmaine? The fact that even with this law in place, her sister was able to have an abortion by getting an exclusion?
[Yoest:] Well, Paula, I think this is very important because one thing I want to point out before I address that question is that 80 percent of American people support parental notification laws. So what you're looking at, it's even parents like Jennifer's who classify themselves as pro-choice, want to know what's going on with their kids. And just because Jennifer at 15 helped her 16-year-old sister get around the law, when her parents would have, I'm sure, as she's saying, would have been supportive, doesn't mean that's a good way to go for public policy.
[Zahn:] OK, Jennifer, why don't you make that clearer? Whether your opposition is to the notification itself or your opposed to it because you simply don't think it works?
[Baumgardner:] I simply don't think it works. I want girls to have the support of their parents. These restrictions don't encourage them to do so.
[Yoest:] Can I jump in here with another point about the public policy? Jennifer, you're making my point on another front, which is that you did manage to secure an abortion for your sister by going to a judge. In the New Hampshire case that was before the Supreme Court today, there is a judicial bypass. So this is about notification, it's not about an abortion.
[Baumgardner:] But it's removing a health exception.
[Zahn:] Let me ask you this, Charmaine. Is there a way you think that would make this more effective?
[Yoest:] More effective? I think it's a very good law. In fact, the attorney general who argued today was saying: look this is set up in such a way that there are safeguards for people like Jennifer who want their abortion rights protected. You can go to a judge, you can still get an abortion. But the vast majority, as you said, the vast majority of young girls do tell their parents. You know, the other thing, if I could throw in here, is that there's been research that shows that again, the majority of young girls who do get pregnant are impregnated by adult men. So what you're looking at it is a possible situation here of real abuse, and so by creating this secrecy around abortion, you may be actually furthering abuse of a young girl.
[Zahn:] Jennifer, you get the last word.
[Yoest:] By not bringing parents in to protect her.
[Baumgardner:] I just want to say, I'm very supportive of finding other ways to encourage girls to go to their parents, because I do think that they do need that support, but not legislative, punitive ways. I know something called the abortion conversation project. They're actually developing language and resources so girls will be encouraged to tell their parents in their own terms and in their own way, and I think it's very healthy.
[Zahn:] All right you two, we've got to leave it there tonight. Jennifer Baumgardner, thank you so much, and Charmaine Yoest, appreciate your time. So, we move onto another question tonight. Have you ever driven past a construction site and wondered how easy it would be for someone to help themselves to everything that's stacked up? Well, a lot of people do more than wonder.
[Mark Stephens, Private Investigator:] Here goes one of their guys. Come back for a second one. There's the second one.
[Zahn:] From air conditioners to building materials. And even grass for the lawn. Nothing is safe from construction site rip-offs. Seeing's believing next. And a little bit later on in the hour, have you seen this MTV hit show, "Laguna Beach?" Find out why so many people who live there wish no one had ever seen it.