What is the impact of the testimony of a medical professional on the issue of consent for an abortion?

The testimony revealed, in this regard, that an abortion, when performed by qualified medical personnel, is one of the safest medical procedures, and that the risk of medical complications resulting from continuing a pregnancy and giving birth is considerably greater than that posed by an abortion. The testimony also revealed that the overwhelming majority of minors who become pregnant have the requisite maturity and capacity to give informed consent to an abortion, and that the interests of those relatively few pregnant minors who do not have the capacity to provide informed consent remain fully protected under the pre-Assembly Bill 2274 statute, because a physician may not perform any medical procedure, including an abortion, unless he or she determines that the patient is capable of giving (and has given) informed consent. (See Ballard v. Anderson, supra, 4 Cal.3d 873, 883, 95 Cal.Rptr. 1, 484 P.2d 1345.) Of course, physicians are well qualified to determine a minor's capacity to provide informed consent and regularly do so in providing medical care under California's numerous medical emancipation statutes.