Emancipating in Iowa

[babynovember]

i'm 16 and pregnant. i have a friend who also got pregnant 2 years ago when she was 16 and was granted automatic emancipation, but i was never given this option. does anyone know the emancipation laws for iowa? i've tried searching and no help.

[aaron]

Iowa has no emancipation statute. There would not be "automatic emancipation" with pregancy - you may wish to try to find out from your friend what actually happened.

[babynovember]

is the only way i can get emancipated then is with the consent of parents, by marriage or seeing a judge?

[aaron]

I am not aware of any authority. You would have to check with an Iowa lawyer to see if you can become emancipated through a means other than marriage.

[cbg]

There's a lot of confusion over this. Being pregnant means you have MEDICAL emancipation, meaning that you can make decisions for yourself about your health care and that of your child.

It does not mean that you have LEGAL emancipation. In fact, even in states that will emancipate a minor (not all states will) being pregnant makes it more difficult, not easier, to be legally emancipated.