Planned Parenthood Of Southern Arizona v. Barbara Lawall

307 F.3d 783, 2002 Daily Journal DAR 11852, 2002 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 10280, 2002 U.S. App. LEXIS 21068
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedOctober 9, 2002
Docket01-16799
StatusPublished

This text of 307 F.3d 783 (Planned Parenthood Of Southern Arizona v. Barbara Lawall) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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Planned Parenthood Of Southern Arizona v. Barbara Lawall, 307 F.3d 783, 2002 Daily Journal DAR 11852, 2002 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 10280, 2002 U.S. App. LEXIS 21068 (9th Cir. 2002).

Opinion

307 F.3d 783

PLANNED PARENTHOOD OF SOUTHERN ARIZONA; Planned Parenthood of Central and Northern Arizona, Inc.; David L. Child, M.D., Plaintiffs-Appellants,
v.
Barbara LAWALL, County Attorney for Pima County and as the representatives for all other County and City Attorneys; Janet Napolitano, Arizona Attorney General, Defendants-Appellees.
Planned Parenthood of Southern Arizona; Planned Parenthood of Central and Northern Arizona, Inc.; David L. Child, M.D., Plaintiffs-Appellants,
Barbara Lawall, County Attorney for Pima County and as the representatives for all other County and City Attorneys; Janet Napolitano, Arizona Attorney General, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 01-16799.

No. 01-16861.

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

Argued and Submitted June 11, 2002.

October 9, 2002.

Eve C. Gartner, Planned Parenthood Federation of American, Inc., New York, NY, for the appellants.

Paula S. Bickett, Chief Counsel, Civil Appeals, Office of the Attorney General, Phoenix, AZ, for the appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Arizona Raner C. Collins, District Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CV-00-0386-RCC.

Before LAY,* FERGUSON, and TALLMAN, Circuit Judges.

OPINION

TALLMAN, Circuit Judge:

Planned Parenthood of Southern Arizona and its corporate chapter, Planned Parenthood of Central and Northern Arizona, Inc., and David L. Child, M.D., (collectively "Planned Parenthood") challenge the facial validity of Arizona's parental consent abortion statute. We must decide whether the current incarnation of the statute's judicial bypass provision satisfies two constitutionally recognized rights of privacy—the right to make fundamental life decisions and the right to avoid disclosure of personal information. We hold that it does.

The district court denied Planned Parenthood's request for a declaratory judgment and for a permanent injunction enjoining enforcement of the statute, holding that the judicial bypass provision satisfies the Supreme Court's requirement of anonymity, does not place an undue burden on a young woman's freedom to terminate her pregnancy, and does not compromise her right to informational privacy. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, and we affirm.

* The State of Arizona repeatedly has attempted to enact a parental consent abortion statute. Arizona's 1989 version of the statute was first held unconstitutional by the United States District Court for the District of Arizona in 1992. The court enjoined enforcement of the statute on the grounds that the medical procedure provision was unconstitutionally vague, the definition of medical emergency was unconstitutionally narrow, and the judicial bypass procedure did not provide a minor with a constitutionally sufficient opportunity to obtain an expedited review. Planned Parenthood v. Neely, 804 F.Supp. 1210 (D.Ariz.1992).

The Arizona legislature amended and reenacted the parental consent abortion law in 1996, but the district court held that it failed to pass constitutional muster. Specifically, the court held that two provisions were unconstitutionally vague: the requirement that a request for judicial authorization for abortion without parental consent be determined "promptly" and the standard regarding the minor's "best interest." Planned Parenthood v. Neely, 942 F.Supp. 1578 (D.Ariz.1996).

On appeal, we vacated the district court's decision without reaching the merits, holding that it was error for the district court to have allowed Planned Parenthood and Neely to supplement their complaint in the 1989 action in order to challenge the constitutionality of the 1996 statute. Planned Parenthood v. Neely, 130 F.3d 400 (9th Cir.1997). A new suit was subsequently commenced. The district court again found the statute unconstitutional and permanently enjoined its enforcement. We affirmed on appeal. Planned Parenthood v. Lawall, 180 F.3d 1022 (9th Cir.1999), amended on denial of reh'g, 193 F.3d 1042 (9th Cir.1999).

In an attempt to harmonize the statute with our ruling, the Arizona legislature drafted yet another version of the statute. The most recent incarnation of section 36-2152 was scheduled to go into effect on July 14, 2000. On June 21, 2000, Planned Parenthood moved for a preliminary injunction, a permanent injunction, and a declaratory judgment holding the statute unconstitutional on the grounds that (1) it did not adequately protect the confidentiality of pregnant minors who seek judicial bypass, (2) its standards for proving maturity and "best interest" were contrary to governing law, and (3) it failed to provide physicians with clear notice of what conduct was prohibited.

Prior to a hearing on the merits, the district court entered a preliminary injunction enjoining the State of Arizona from enforcing the statute. On September 15, 2000, the district court heard Planned Parenthood's motions. While the court took the matter under advisement, it granted defendants' Motion in Limine to preclude the testimony of Dr. David Child regarding a particular breach of confidentiality pertaining to one of his former patients and ordered the preliminary injunction to remain in effect until the district court issued an order. On August 9, 2001, the district court denied Planned Parenthood's request for relief and dissolved the preliminary injunction. Enforcement of the statute was subsequently stayed pending appeal.

On this appeal, Planned Parenthood challenges the facial validity of a discrete portion of Arizona's judicial bypass proceeding — the confidentiality provision in Arizona's parental consent abortion law — on the ground that it does not comport with Supreme Court anonymity requirements. Planned Parenthood also contends the confidentiality provision violates young women's informational privacy rights because it is not narrowly tailored to meet the state's interest. Appellees, a class of all prosecuting attorneys in the State of Arizona, assert that Planned Parenthood misconstrues the breadth of the exception and that the confidentiality provision satisfies Supreme Court precedent. Appellees' argument is persuasive.

II

We review de novo the legal question of whether a statutory provision is constitutional. See Taylor v. Delatoore, 281 F.3d 844, 847 (9th Cir.2002). In analyzing a facial challenge to an abortion statute, we apply the undue burden standard set forth in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833, 895, 112 S.Ct. 2791, 120 L.Ed.2d 674 (1992).1 See Lawall, 180 F.3d at 1027.

III

The United States Supreme Court held in Roe v. Wade that the "right of privacy... founded in the Fourteenth Amendment's concept of personal liberty and restrictions upon state action ... is broad enough to encompass a woman's decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy." 410 U.S. 113, 153, 93 S.Ct.

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307 F.3d 783, 2002 Daily Journal DAR 11852, 2002 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 10280, 2002 U.S. App. LEXIS 21068, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/planned-parenthood-of-southern-arizona-v-barbara-lawall-ca9-2002.