US Law Doesn’t Preempt Texas’ Teen Birth Control Notice Rule

Taxpayer-funded family planning providers must tell Texas parents when their children seek birth control and other services, the Fifth Circuit said Tuesday.

A US rule intended to allow teenagers to access contraceptives confidentially doesn’t preempt a Texas law that gives parents the right to consent to their children obtaining the service, Judge Stuart Kyle Duncan, of the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit said. A family planning provider that receives federal money under Title X can comply with both the state and federal rule, the court said.

“Title X’s goal (encouraging family participation in teens’ receiving family ...