BECKY BELL WAS, by most accounts, a normal, healthy seventeen-year-old girl. She lived in Indianapolis with her parents, attended high school, and looked forward to a bright future. In 1988, Becky became pregnant. Afraid to tell her parents, she went to a local clinic to have an abortion. There she was told that Indiana had a parental notification law. According to the law, minors could not get an abortion unless one parent was told about it. The law also said that if a minor did not want to tell a parent, she could appear in front of a judge to explain why not. The judge might grant her permission for the abortion.

It is clear that Becky left the clinic in good health. For reasons that are...