Exploring Adolescents' and Young Adults' Abortion Disclosure and Adolescents' Experiences Navigating Colorado's...

Most states where abortion remains legal require adolescents under 18 to involve a parent or guardian or obtain judicial bypass. We explored narratives describing parental involvement among adolescents and young adults, and adolescents' experiences navigating Colorado's parental notification law.

Between June 2020 and October 2023, as an academic-community partnership, we conducted semi-structured qualitative interviews with 33 Colorado residents, who within the last 2 years obtained or considered abortion when they were between ages 15 and 22. Data were analyzed using a theoretically informed deductive and inductive thematic analysis.

Participant narratives revealed that it was rare for adolescents and young adults who described unsupportive pre-pregnancy parent-child relationships to feel they could disclose the pregnancy to a parent. Unacceptability of sex and pregnancy was a common reason adolescents felt they could not disclose the pregnancy, but was less salient for young adults. All adolescent and young adult participants whose parents learned about the pregnancy accurately anticipated parent reactions. Adolescents feared and experienced forced disclosure, while young adults had less stress and more control over whom they involved. Navigating the notification law was stressful, even for adolescents who willingly involved a parent, and for some, resulted in unwanted disclosure. The judicial bypass process was stressful, forced disclosure, and delayed abortion access.

Even in Colorado, where abortion is protected, the parental notification law and judicial bypass process may harm adolescents through added stress, forced disclosure, delaying care, and threatening their autonomy. Adolescents with family instability and trauma are disproportionately burdened.