Parents' Rights vs. Minors' Rights Regarding the Provision of Contraceptives to Teenagers

This article offers a framework for analyzing the extent to which the policy dispute regarding the provision of contraceptives to minors implicates the constitutional rights of parents and minors. Part II reviews the conceptual context of the conflict between the legal rights of parents and teenage minors. The cases supporting and arguments for the parents' rights position are reviewed in Part III. In Part IV, the cases supporting and arguments for the minors' rights position are reviewed.

Recent decisions of the federal courts regarding the provision of contraceptives to minors are examined in Part V. In Part VI, the conceptual failings of privacy analysis to resolve the teenage-access-to-contraceptives issues are examined and an alternative constitutional analysis is proposed. The constitutional solution is systemic or procedural; the Constitution affords a way to establish legislative policy, not a substitute for it.