Informed Consent Laws and the Constitution: Balancing State Interests with a Physician’s First Amendment Rights and a Woman’s Due Process Rights
Sarah Runels, 26 J. Contemp. Health L. & Pol’y 185 (2009)
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Part I of this Note outlines the existence and use of the heightened informed consent requirements. In addition, this section discusses the failure of courts and advocates on both sides of the issue to fully address the extent to which these requirements implicate physicians’ and women’s rights. Part II summarizes existing case law on informed consent provisions and advocates for a more comprehensive framework challenging the constitutionality of informed consent provisions. This framework includes a legal analysis that takes both the woman’s due process rights and the physician’s First Amendment rights into consideration. Part III analyzes the recent Eighth Circuit decision in Planned Parenthood v. Rounds. Finally, Part IV of this Note will apply the framework developed in Part II to the Eighth Circuit decision in Rounds.
