Right to counsel

One statute used to confer the right to counsel if requested by a minor seeking a waiver of parental notification for an abortion. N.J. Stat. Ann. § 9:17A-1.7(b) (“[t]he court shall … advise her that she has a right to court appointed counsel, and shall, upon her request, provide her with such counsel.”)  The Parental Notification for Abortion Act, however, has since been held unconstitutional, negating the need to obtain a waiver (and therefore, the need for counsel). See Planned Parenthood of Central New Jersey v. Farmer, 762 A.2d 620 (N.J. 2000) (finding the law violative of the state’s equal protection clause, since it treats minors who seek to terminate their pregnancy differently than minors who seek medical or surgical care related to their pregnancies without a “principled basis for imposing special burdens only on that class of minors seeking an abortion”).

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Note: Since the U.S. Supreme Court decision’s in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, 142 S.Ct. 2228 (2022), the laws governing abortion are complicated and rapidly changing.  This major development may not be current since Dobbs.  For up-to-date information about the status of abortion by state, please see Center for Reproductive Rights, After Roe Fell: Abortion Laws by State.