The federal judge who first struck down New Hampshire's parental notification law, saying it was unconstitutional, has decided to let the Legislature determine the fate of a bill to repeal it, pending further court action.

U.S. District Judge Joseph DiClerico put a hold on the case while the bill is under consideration in the State House, "in deference to the Legislature."

The repeal bill, sponsored by state Rep. Elizabeth Hager, is scheduled for a hearing Feb. 8 before the House Judiciary Committee. It's House Bill 184.

"I'm pretty confident we have the votes to have this pass," Hager, a Concord Republican and abortion-rights advocate, said last night.

On DiClerio's order, she said, "Sounds pretty practical. I wouldn't think he'd want to make any decisions while we're discussing it where it should be discussed."

New Hampshire's parental notification law required abortion providers to notify at least one parent at least 48 hours before performing an abortion on a minor. In December 2003, two days before it was to take effect, DiClerico struck it down. He said the bill lacked an exception to protect a woman's health. Supporters of the law intentionally left out the language, believing the medical exception would be abused.

The matter was argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in 2005, which ruled last year to return the case to federal court to consider the constitutionality of particular parts of the law.

Meanwhile, Attorney General Kelly Ayotte asked DiClerico in December to reject requests by abortion-rights activists who want the court to throw out the law and let the Legislature write a new one. She argued that the court should eliminate the unconstitutional part of the law and let the remainder stand.

Repeal advocates say if legislators want to debate parental notice again, they should start fresh, not with a makeover of the 2003 law.

"The Legislature had defeated a (parental notification) bill like this 15 times before that one passed in '03," Hager said. "So there's no reason to think we wouldn't do it again. It won by only six votes with (then-governor) Craig Benson working really, really hard to get it passed."

After meeting yesterday with representatives of the Attorney General's office and Planned Parenthood, which sued to challenge the parental notification law in 2003, DiClerico decided not to take any action until the repeal bill is considered by the Legislature. The parties agreed.

"If House Bill 184 is enacted into law, this case will be rendered moot," DiClerico wrote. "If it is not enacted into law, this case will proceed; if the parental notification law is amended, then the legal landscape of this case may well change."

------ End of article

By KATHY MCCORMACK

The Associated Press