On the recordJuly 15, 1998
I can testify to all of you, one of the things an emergency room doctor fears in the course of his practice is to have a minor child come into the emergency room unaccompanied by a parent or legal guardian in need of acute medical care. The reason they fear that is because if you sew up a laceration or give a medication and find that the parents were unhappy with that particular intervention, you can get yourself into a lot of trouble. Indeed, in some States you can actually be charged for assault for providing needed medical care to a minor child. But in the interpretation of Row v. Wade, in many States, I believe 30 of them, that doctor can perform an abortion, without any fear of being charged with assault or prosecution. However, he cannot give that child aspirin for a headache.
Source
govinfo.gov
