Since 1970 the Family Planning program, authorized under Title X of the Public Health Service Act, has authorized federally funded clinics to provide family planning and reproductive health care to all who seek it, regardless of income or age. But in recent years, several states have set forth proposals requiring clinics to ask for parental consent before providing contraceptives to minors. Proponents say such a requirement may lower pregnancy rates by encouraging parents to speak to their children about sex and discouraging teens from having sex; opponents say it leads many teens to have sex without any contraception.

According to a recent study, McHenry County, Illinois, began requiring parental consent at public clinics in 1998 (opting thereby to forgo federal funds). The county is primarily white and suburban with a median household income of more than $64,000. According to a new study, in the two-year period before the requirement was put in place, the percentage of births to women younger than 19 years in McHenry county was 2.92% of all births, compared with 4.54% in three neighboring counties; in the two years after the requirement was in place, the percentage in McHenry County rose to 3.44%, but in the other three counties (in which there was no new requirement) the percentage actually dipped (to 4.38%). According to researcher Madeline Zavodny, "the main message is that parental consent laws for prescription birth control can have unintended consequences . . . and this is the first real piece of evidence we have of what happens."-Dalia Sofer

Zavodny M. Am J Public Health 2004;94(8):1347-51.