In an age when transgenderism is promoted, mental health treatment is mostly secular, and providers ask to speak with minor patients alone, parents are left wondering what their rights are. While parents should have a right to make medical decisions for their minor children, there are often exceptions in the law When can minors consent to their own healthcare? When is parental consent required? What about transgender “treatment”?

This research addresses state laws on minor consent to healthcare and grades each state based on age limits along with the invasiveness or necessity of the permitted treatment, so states receive lower grades where minors may consent to surgery or mental health treatment. This article summarizes the default rules, the common exceptions, and the issues not covered in this research.

The Default Requirement: Parental Consent

The default rule, whether by caselaw or statute, is that parental consent is required before minors can receive healthcare. Healthcare here means medical, surgical, dental, and mental health care. Indeed, the parental right to make medical decisions for one’s minor children is constitutionally protected and separately recognized in many states.

One major exception to this default rule is emergency treatment. Medical providers are typically allowed to give emergency treatment to prevent death or serious bodily injury. These laws are usually presented either as exceptions to the parental consent requirement or as exemptions from civil liability.

Every state also has a variety of laws generally known as minor consent statutes. These laws allow minors to consent to specific services and treatments without their parents’ consent. As a general rule, parents are not financially responsible when their minor child consents to treatment under the minor consent statutes.

The most common exceptions covered in our research are listed below.

Minor Consent Exceptions

Age-Based Consent
A handful of states allow minors of a certain age to consent to any treatment. Additionally, most states set an age requirement for minors to consent to specific forms of healthcare. The most common ages are 12, 14, and 16.

Pregnancy
Most states allow a pregnant minor to consent to treatment related to her pregnancy. A few states distinguish between prenatal care (before birth), peripartum care (treatment surrounding labor and delivery), and postpartum care (after birth). A handful of states treat pregnancy as emancipation for healthcare consent purposes so that a pregnant minor may consent to any healthcare for herself. A minor parent may also consent to healthcare for her own child. Note that consent to treatment for pregnancy is separate from consent to abortion.

Contraception (not sterilization)
In addition to pregnancy, many states allow minors to consent to “family planning services” or the “prevention” of pregnancy. In the summaries, we refer to this as “contraception.” These terms are not clearly defined, but sterilization is generally excluded, meaning minors cannot consent to permanent contraception. These laws presumably include IUDs and birth control pills.

Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Many states also allow minors to consent to treatment for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) if they were infected or exposed. States vary in their terminology, allowing treatment for “venereal disease,” “sexually transmitted infections” (STIs), or STDs. For clarity, we use STD in the summaries. Some states also specifically allow minors to consent to HIV testing, but because the general STD laws essentially cover HIV testing, we do not note the HIV laws separately.

Reportable Diseases
States require providers to report certain diseases to health authorities. States usually refer to these as “contagious,” “communicable,” or “infectious” diseases. In the summaries, we call them “reportable diseases.” A few states allow minors to consent to treatment for reportable diseases beyond STDs. These reportable diseases generally include STDs, the “vaccine preventable” diseases for which there are established vaccines (e.g., measles), food- and waterborne diseases (e.g., salmonella), diseases spread by animals or insects (e.g., rabies), and other sicknesses. The reportable diseases vary by state and are based on changing health regulations. Check your state health department’s website for the current list.

Substance Abuse
Many states allow minors to consent to treatment for chemical dependency, addiction, or general substance abuse. Some states distinguish between drugs, alcohol, and tobacco/nicotine. Treatment for substance abuse can overlap with inpatient treatment for mental health disorders.

Mental Health
Most states allow minors to consent to some form of mental health treatment or counseling even if they do not have a confirmed mental or emotional disorder. Treatment can come from psychologists, psychiatrists, therapists, counselors, doctors, and others, depending on the nature of the treatment. Some states distinguish between outpatient treatment, where patients receive treatment in the ordinary course of life, and inpatient treatment, where patients are admitted to specialized facilities for intensive treatment. Because it can be hard to leave a mental health facility, the standards for minor consent to inpatient treatment are usually more stringent. Many states do not allow minors to consent to receiving psychotropic drugs.

Minor consent to mental health treatment or counseling is important because such “treatment” or counseling can involve significant ideological exposure, including transgender ideology. As a result, states that allow minor consent to mental health treatment receive lower grades.

Transgender Treatment
Several states have banned all transgender treatment for minors. Here, transgender treatment means surgery, puberty blockers, and cross-sex hormones unless otherwise noted. A few states restrict without completely banning transgender treatment. Note that these bans do not include pro-transgender counseling or mental health treatment. Alabama and Wyoming specifically state that transgender counseling is permitted under their transgender treatment bans.

Forensic Exam after Sexual Assault
Some states explicitly allow minors to consent to forensic medical exams, sometimes called rape kits, if they are victims of a sexual crime. The purpose of these exams is primarily to gather evidence and identify the perpetrator.

Issues not Addressed

This research does not cover several issues parents should be aware of.

Abortion
Because the laws surrounding abortion and minor consent to abortion are so complicated, this issue will be addressed separately in a future research project.

Emancipation
In addition to the exceptions listed above, states allow minors to consent to healthcare as if they were adults in a variety of situations we broadly refer to as emancipation.

•     Judicial emancipation. This is where a court rules a minor may act as an adult.
  

•     Marriage. Legally married minors are treated as adults.
  

•     Minor parents. Minor parents may generally consent to healthcare for their own children.
  

•     Pregnancy. As mentioned above, pregnant minors in some states may consent to healthcare beyond what is necessary for pregnancy.
  

•     Minor living separate and apart. States often allow minors of a certain age, usually somewhere from 14 to 17, to consent to their healthcare when they live separate from their parents and control their own finances.
  

•     Imprisonment. Minors in prison or juvenile detention centers often may consent to their own healthcare.
  

•     Military service. Minors enlisted in the military are often permitted to consent to their own healthcare.
  

•     High school graduation. Some states allow high school graduates or minors enrolled in college to consent to their own healthcare.
  

Mature Minor Doctrine
Courts in some states recognize what is known as the mature minor doctrine. Under the mature minor doctrine, medical providers may treat minors when they have a good-faith belief that the minor is mature enough to understand and provide informed consent. This is a highly fact-specific inquiry looking to the treatment in question, the minor’s unique circumstances, and the provider’s perception of the situation. To protect themselves from liability, most providers would prefer obtaining parental consent over acting under the mature minor doctrine.

Emergency
As noted above, medical professionals usually can provide necessary services in good faith to prevent serious injury or death.

Parent Notification and Access to Records
Most of the laws addressing minor consent also allow or require providers to notify parents immediately before or sometime after the treatment and allow parents to access medical records. But this is separate from parents having any control over the treatment itself.

Blood Donation
In almost every state, minors 17 or older may donate blood.

Parent Veto in Mental Health Treatment
In some states where minors may consent to or refuse mental health treatment, parents may consent to treatment over the minor’s objection when it is in the minor’s best interest.

Conclusion

While minor consent laws can be complex and difficult to interpret at times, they usually apply only to a defined set of circumstances. Heritage Defense is here to defend your parental rights as you seek to make wise and informed medical decisions for your children.