The United States Supreme Court refused to take a case that seeks the revival of a Montana law that requires people younger than 18 to get parental consent before getting an abortion.
The legislation was originally enacted in 2013 and includes provisions that prohibit a doctor from providing abortion services to a patient who is under 18 years old if they do not have notarized written consent from a parent.
Parental Consent for Abortion for Minors
The Montana Supreme Court previously concluded that the law violated the Montana state Constitution. The latter includes broader protections for abortion compared to the U.S. Constitution.
The Supreme Court itself did not provide a detailed explanation for its decision, but Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas wrote a short statement. There, they asserted that technical problems with the case made it look like a "poor vehicle" for deciding the questions over such laws.
In their appeal, Montana officials told the Supreme Court that parents' authority extends to decisions about medical care. They added that parents are presumed to act in their child's best interest, noting that the state may not interfere with that right, according to CNN.
On the other hand, Planned Parenthood, a non-profit organization, sued over the law, claiming that the case was focused on the state constitution. The organization added that Montana officials seemed to suggest that the existence of parental rights is the start and end of the inquiry.
It noted that as long as there is a federal due process right of parents to participate in decisions concerning their minor child's medical care, there should be no need to consider what other rights could be relevant.
The Supreme Court's Ruling
The state court ruled that a minor's right to control her reproductive decisions is "among the most fundamental of the rights she possesses." It added that the state failed to show its own interests overcame those protections, NBC News reported.
Even among Republican-led states, Montana is an outlier in that abortion is still widely available despite the 2022 Supreme Court ruling overturning abortion rights landmark Roe v. Wade. The state's highest court has long recognized that individuals have a right to abortion under the state Constitution.
The court's decision comes despite Montana being a very red state, where President Donald Trump won with 58% of the vote last November. In Montana, abortion is protected up to the point of fetal viability. Voters also approved a ballot initiative in 2024 that made it illegal for the government to regulate or restrict abortion before viability, as per The Hill.
