The Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act (HR 2299), or CIANA, would prohibit anyone, including clergy or a close family member, from accompanying minors across state lines for an abortion if they did not comply with parental notification laws in the minors’ states of residence.  This legislation also imposes a complex series of mandates on health care providers, requiring them to police their patients and enforce the parental involvement laws of the state in which they are practicing and the state in which the patient resides.

Ideally, young women facing an unplanned pregnancy would turn to their parents for support and guidance. Fortunately, most do. However some young women who are pregnant as a result of rape or incest, or who fear severe or violent reprisals from their parents, often turn to another trusted adult. CIANA would discourage such behavior by criminalizing the grandparent, clergy member, counselor or other trusted adult who attempts to aid a minor when she needs it most. In the absence of a trustworthy support network, a youth may take matters into her own hands, endangering her health or her life.