Abortion in the United States is a highly disputed issue. Not only is the act of an abortion highly controversial in opinions and ethics, but it also sheds light on different problems that arise out of abortions with minors. Today, twenty states have parental notification laws that require minors to notify at least one parent of the intention to have an abortion. The argument at hand is whether or not parental notification should be required before a minor can obtain a clinical abortion. Although parental notification has some benefits, this paper will highlight four primary reasons why notification should not be required from minors. First, if the teen lives in a state that requires parental consent, then the time involved in earning rights to a clinical abortion without notifying parents, such as a judicial bypass or traveling to a more accommodating state could lead to a higher rate of risk and fatality for the teen. Second, for many teens, notifying their parents of the pregnancy may lead to a critically unstable situation for various reasons. Third, there are other measures that can be used to achieve the same goals that parental notification and would be yield less dangerous results. Finally, teens who cannot or refuse to notify their parents are likely to resort to back alley or similarly dangerous alternatives. As demonstrated below, these detrimental factors are a lot more compelling than the arguments and possible benefits in favor of parental notification. In the scenario where the pregnant minor is unwilling to inform her parents of her pregnancy, she can try to evade parental notification by resulting to time delaying alternatives. In their article, “Minors' Behavioral Responses To Parental Involvement Laws” authors Silvie Colman and Ted Joyce report that, “after the state's parental notification law went into effect, the proportion of minors' abortions that occurred in the second trimester or later increased significantly.” (Colman, Joyce). One way minors can avoid parental notification is by achieving a court issued judicial bypass. In order to obtain a judicial bypass the teen must address the court and prove she is mature enough to make the decisions on her own. Studies show that such a procedure further delays the abortion process drastically, In Fact, Judge Nixon of The US District Court in Tennessee estimates that, “even under the best of circumstances, the [judicial] waiver process would take twenty-two days to complete.” (CARAL, District Court Invalidates Tennessee Parental Consent for Abortions) Such time delay could potentially be a major problem due to the threat involved in postponed abortions. Another scenario that is likely to result if minors choose not to inform their parents could be out of state or out of country travel. This process is not only time consuming and dangerous, but also requires money for transportation and accommodations. In the process of traveling to another state teens are likely to lack many important factors such as support and awareness. Once away from her home and comfort zone the teen will lack support from her friends which is crucially needed with relation to her situation. Also, being less familiar with the environment the teen will be unaware of the best medical providers in the area in which she can go to. Furthermore, teens may run the risk of complications during the trip when medical help might not be readily available. Whether its judicial bypass, out of state travel or reluctance or delay in notifying the parents, parental notification will likely increase the time before which a teen can have an abortion which puts the teen more at risk. A study by the Guttmatcher Institute (GI) in July 2008 shows that, “The risk of death associated with abortion increases with the length of pre