The Law in Alaska Pertaining to Minors’ Access to Abortion
There is no enforceable forced parental involvement law for minors seeking abortions in Alaska. A minor who wishes to obtain an abortion may do so without any legal requirement that she involve her parents or that she seek a court order exempting her from forced parental involvement requirements.

CCPA will override Alaska’s law for some minors obtaining abortions in Alaska by requiring enforcement of other states’ laws within Alaska’s borders. Despite court rulings that the forced parental involvement law is not in effect, some people within the state of Alaska – some minors and Alaska abortion providers – will be required to comply with forced parental involvement laws of other states.

States such as Alaska are most likely to be visited by minors in need of abortions. These states will bear the burden of having their medical personnel and clinic staff subject to potential liability from a number of complex provisions regarding conspiracy, accomplice and accessory liability.

The Effect of CCPA on Alaska Resident Minors
Alaska minors seeking abortions in Alaska will be subject to Alaska law and will not be forced to involve their parents prior to obtaining an abortion in Alaska.

Alaska minors who are accompanied by a trusted relative or friend to an out-of-state abortion provider will have to comply – as they currently do – with the forced parental involvement law of the state to which they travel, if there is such a law. CCPA does not permit Alaska minors to obtain the benefit of their home state’s less restrictive law even though, as described below, CCPA would require minors from states with “strict” laws to comply with their home states’ law under the same circumstances.

The Effect of CCPA on Minors Traveling into Alaska
Non-resident minors who are accompanied by a relative or friend to an Alaska abortion provider normally would not be forced to involve their parents prior to obtaining an abortion in Alaska. However, CCPA supplants Alaska law if the minor is from a state whose law is as “strict” as CCPA.

For example, a minor from Texas may have family in Alaska and want to be near them when she obtains an abortion. If the minor travels to Alaska alone, she will not be required to comply with Texas’ forced parental involvement law. However, if she travels to Alaska with a trusted relative or friend, she must provide actual notice to one parent at least forty-eight hours before the abortion or obtain an order from a Texas court exempting her from the requirement.

The Effect of CCPA on Alaska Providers
Under CCPA, Alaska health care providers who know that a minor has been transported across state lines by a non-parent would be at risk from a number of complex provisions regarding conspiracy, accomplice and accessory liability. In order to avoid liability, an Alaska provider would have to determine whether the minor seeking an abortion is from another state; whether she was accompanied across state lines by a non-parent; whether, under CCPA, she is required to comply with the forced parental involvement law of her home state and, if so, whether she did. If an Alaska provider determines a violation of another state’s law exists, the provider would be forced to deny services to the minor and report the accompanying person to the authorities or risk liability himself.

Therefore, Alaska health care providers would need to be familiar with, and be ready to comply with, the laws of all fifty states and the District of Columbia before proceeding with an abortion.

The law has been challenged on the grounds that it violates the state constitution. See Planned Parenthood of Alaska, Inc. v. State, No. 3AN-97-6014 CI (Alaska Super. Ct. Oct. 5, 1998), aff'd in part, rev’d in part and remanded, No. S-8580 (Alaska Nov. 16, 2001). The Alaska Supreme Court remanded the case to the lower court. Currently, the law is enjoined pending resolution of the case.