Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates Kentucky Calls on Gov. Beshear to Veto HB 174

The Honorable Andy Beshear
Governor of Kentucky
700 Capitol Avenue, Suite 100
Frankfort, Kentucky 40601

Re: Request to veto House Bill 174 (Parental Access to Minor’s Medical Records)

 

March 27, 2024
 

Dear Governor Beshear,

Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates - Kentucky strongly urges you to veto House Bill 174, a bill that puts young Kentuckians’ health and lives in jeopardy. Contrary to public health and young people’s best interests, parental involvement laws force young people to delay or forego care altogether. Further, this bill will discourage young people from seeking help from a trusted adult. This bill flies in the face of decades of data demonstrating that requiring parental involvement makes it less likely that young people will get the care they need and more likely that they’ll face harmful consequences. HB 174 creates new barriers for young people trying to access needed health care, and its one-size-fits all approach will harm, not help, young people. 

While most young people do talk to their parents about their decision to seek health care – whether it is STI testing, getting on birth control, pursuing drug treatment, or seeking mental health services – young people that choose not to involve a parent avoid doing so for good reason. The unfortunate reality is that not all young people live in a safe and supportive environment, and some young people cannot safely disclose to their parents their need to access sensitive services. For young people living in abusive households, disclosing sexual activity, drug use, or mental health issues can trigger abuse – including physical, emotional, and sexual violence – and, for some, it can even result in a child being thrown out of their home.

Evidence shows that parental involvement laws like HB 174 do not increase the rate at which young people tell their parents about their health care. Instead, they merely discourage young people from seeking care. Rather than protecting Idaho youth, this bill would put vulnerable young people at significant risk by discouraging them from talking to trusted adults, including medical providers.

Current Kentucky law allows young people to consent to certain health care without parental involvement, including access to contraceptives, mental health care, treatment for drug abuse, and treatment for infectious diseases, including STIs. By allowing parents to access a young person’s health care information and records without any guardrails, this bill directly undermines state law, Title X, and the intent of HIPAA which is designed so for parents not to be involved in the minor’s health services if the young person can independently consent to care.

With persistent health care deserts continuing to plague Kentucky’s health care landscape,  lawmakers cannot afford to drive even more providers from the state by further interfering with their ability to offer medical care in line with patients’ best interests. By limiting a provider’s ability to offer young people the care they can consent to without confidentiality, HB 174 will only exacerbate the gaps in care facing the people of the Commonwealth.  

Kentuckians of every age deserve better. It is time for an end to government overreach into our personal health care decisions, and for lawmakers to let our health care providers do their job  without government interference. This bill is part of a nationwide trend where we are seeing out of state actors with special interests exploit the term “parental rights” to attack, and restrict young people’s access to health care and lifesaving information. The health and safety of our young people should be our priority, not indulging a movement that allows extremist politics to seep into our health care. 

I believe we can all agree that we want  kids to be safe and healthy. HB 174 will ultimately undermine parental rights by threatening young people’s ability to get the health care they need to stay safe and healthy and to reach out to trusted adults for help. We urge you to take steps to protect the real interests of parents and the lives of Kentucky youth, and we urge you to veto this bill. 

Sincerely, 

Tamarra Wieder
Kentucky State Director
Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates - Kentucky