Changes to Parental Consent Requirements for Abortion in Massachusetts and Impact on Timeliness of Care for Adolescents Aged 16 to 17 Years.

Abstract

Objectives. To measure the effect of the ROE Act on abortion timing for adolescents aged 16 to 17 years in Massachusetts. Methods. The primary outcome was gestational duration at abortion for individuals aged 16 to 19 years at Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts from 2017 to 2022. Our control group included individuals aged 18 to 19 years undergoing abortions. In our primary analysis, we used a comparative interrupted time series with a linear model to capture temporal trends, seasonality, whether an abortion was undergone during the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, previous abortion, and race/ethnicity categories. Results. Minors aged 16 to 17 years underwent 749 abortions during the study. Individuals aged 18 to 19 years underwent 2773 abortions. The ROE Act resulted in a 5.46-day decrease in gestational duration at abortion among minors (95% confidence interval = -11.82, 0.91). Conclusions. Removal of the parental involvement requirement for adolescents aged 16 to 17 years in Massachusetts led to minors undergoing abortions at earlier gestational durations, highlighting the importance of potential impacts of similar legislation to decrease barriers to abortion access for minors. (Am J Public Health. 2025;115(3):397-402. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2024.307918).