Frequently asked questions for youth
Let’s look at the following areas, in addition to mental health treatment, where you as a minor (under 18 in most cases) can obtain confidential care.
- Contraception (Birth Control)
As a person under the age of 18, you can obtain any type of contraception without the permission or consent of your parent or guardian. This includes over-the-counter birth control methods, such as condoms, as well as internal methods, such as IUD’s or implants. You are responsible for the cost of the birth control, but medical procedures, such as contraceptive implants, and IUD’s, are usually covered by health insurance. Remember, if you are insured under your parent or guardian’s health insurance plan, you are responsible for any insurance co-pays under the plan, and your parents or guardians may be able to discover their insurance was used by viewing the policy information on-line. If you are insured under the HUSKY plan, there are no co-pays and there are no papers or bills sent home.
Remember that most doctors and medical professionals will report sexual activity to DCF if either you or your partner 12 years old or younger, or if you are 15 years old or younger and there is a significant age gap between you and you partner (three years or more).
- Abortion
If you are 16 or 17 years old, you are treated as an adult for purposes of abortion care (termination of pregnancy), and you may obtain an abortion at a licensed clinic confidentially and without the need to obtain parental consent or permission.
If you are under the age of 16, then you may still obtain an abortion in Connecticut, but you will have to undergo counseling and a presentation of alternatives to having an abortion before you can obtain the procedure.
- Treatment of Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD’s)
If you are under 18, you have the absolute right to confidential care and treatment of a sexually transmitted disease (herpes, chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis etc.) without the need to get your parents’ or guardians’ permission or consent. If you are 12 years old or younger, the doctor’s office must report the STD to the Department of Children and Families.
- Substance Abuse Treatment
Any minor (a person under the age of 18) can be treated for substance abuse or addiction in a confidential fashion, and parental permission or consent is not required. The substance abuse treatment must be provided by a person who is a licensed substance abuse provider by the state of Connecticut. If you decide to work with a substance abuse treatment professional, your parents or guardians cannot be billed for this treatment, and if you don’t have insurance or if you are insured under your parents or guardians’ healthcare plan, you are personally responsible for any co-pays or deductibles as required by the insurance policy. If you receive HUSKY insurance from the state of Connecticut, you will not have to pay anything from this treatment.
Yes. Connecticut law provides that minors may obtain a confidential HIV test without a parent or guardian’s consent.
Yes. PrEP (Pre Exposure Prophylaxis – HIV prevention medication) is a medical intervention that can be confidentially prescribed to minors without a parent or guardian’s permission or consent, as long as the doctor believes that the minor would not be able to obtain that consent from a parent. If a minor who is 12 or younger asks for a PrEP prescription then the doctor, or prescribing nurse practitioner of physician’s assistant, must report that information to DCF. As with many of the other healthcare treatment areas noted on this site, minors are personally responsible for the costs of PrEP, which can be very expensive. Generally, the HUSKY program will fully pay for PrEP, but minors who are insured through their parents or guardians’ health insurance plans may find that they have pay very high amounts for PrEP. Please consult with your treating doctor or clinic, or seek out a community-based clinic that specializes in reproductive healthcare, such as Planned Parenthood.
In general, yes, but practically speaking, this is a very difficult thing to do. Most doctors and clinics, however, will agree to keep information about a pregnancy confidential if the minor patient makes that request. Please know that there is no state or federal law that protects a minor pregnant patient’s confidentiality, but most clinics and doctors will honor a request for confidentiality unless there is potential harm that might result to the minor pregnant patient.
If you go to a hospital, clinic or doctor’s office in Connecticut, you will be treated like any other individual who lives in Connecticut, even if your state has banned certain types of healthcare.
Can you give me an example of what you mean by this?
Let's take a situation where you live in a state which makes abortion illegal, and forbids anyone else in the state from helping an individual who wants to undergo abortion care. If you are in Connecticut (for any reason), you are entitled to abortion care in Connecticut, and the individuals who perform the abortion are protected under Connecticut law from any other states that seek to punish the Connecticut abortion providers.
