Women under the age of 18 can receive emergency birthing services, but any prenatal or delivery procedure that is classified as elective — like c-sections and exams that test for chromosomal abnormalities — must first be approved by a parent.
Clinicians in the state say they have seen mothers deny epidurals for their teenage daughters to punish them for getting pregnant. Hospital staff members have no choice but to try and change the minds of parents.
“To take the mom aside and say, ‘You know, this isn’t some life lesson here. This is basically pain — and there’s no reason for somebody to go through that’,” Michael Cackovic, MD, an obstetrician at the Columbus-based Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, told NPR.
Similar laws exist in 12 other states, but legislators in Ohio are working on passing a law that would eliminate this loophole and allow pregnant minors to consent to all prenatal and birthing care.
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