U.S. Supreme Court denies state appeal over abortion parental consent law

The U.S. Supreme Court last week declined a petition from the State of Montana that sought to revive a 2013 law requiring minors to get consent from a parent to obtain an abortion.

Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen had argued that a decision by the Montana Supreme Court last year declaring the law unconstitutional “threatens parents’ longstanding fundamental right under the Fourteenth Amendment of the federal Constitution to direct the care and custody of their minor children.”

The nation’s highest court opted against reviewing the decision, but in a two-page decision, Justice Samuel Alito, joined by Justice Clarence Thomas, wrote that their conclusion came from technicalities in the case, not “as a rejection of the argument that the petition asks us to decide.”

Montana’s petition asked the court to determine “[w]hether a parent’s fundamental right to direct the care and custody of his or her children includes a right to know and participate in decisions concerning their minor child’s medical care, including a minor’s decision to seek an abortion.” The justices wrote that “because of the way this case was litigated below, it provides a poor vehicle for deciding that question.”

The original case, Planned Parenthood vs. Montana, concerned a bill passed by the Montana Legislature during the 2013 session. A district court judge temporarily blocked the law from going into effect — but the law ended up enjoined for 11 years.

A new administration in the Attorney General’s Office in 2021 came with renewed interest in that law, and the legal battle resumed under Knudsen.

When the Montana Supreme Court finally took up the case last year, it agreed with a district court ruling that struck down the law, finding it violated the Montana Constitution and the Supreme Court’s prior holdings in Armstrong vs. State of Montana and Weems vs. State of Montana.

The unanimous state supreme court ruling from August 2024 stated that minors’ privacy rights makes the law unconstitutional.

“A minor’s right to dignity, autonomy, and the right to choose are embedded in the liberties found in the Montana Constitution,” wrote Justice Laurie McKinnon. “Because a minor’s right to control her reproductive decisions is among the most fundamental of the rights she possesses, and because the State has failed to demonstrate a real and significant relationship between the statutory classification and the ends asserted, we hold that the Consent Act violates the Constitution of the State of Montana.”

But Knudsen said the state court “elevated a minor’s state constitutional rights over parents’ federal constitutional rights,” and sought federal intervention.

Representatives from the attorney general’s office did not respond to the Daily Montanan’s requests for comment, but did issue statements to multiple news outlets, saying the AG’s office was “disappointed” in the decision not to hear the case.

“However, as Justices Thomas and Alito made clear today, this issue has not been settled by the courts and the legal battle is far from over,” spokesperson Emilee Cantrell told MTN News. “Attorney General Knudsen will not waver in his support of parents’ longstanding and fundamental right to direct the care and upbringing of their children.”

In a statement, Martha Fuller, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Montanan, praised the decision by the nation’s highest court.

“Every Montanan has a fundamental right to privacy and deserves the ability to control their own bodies and futures,” Fuller said. “Montana courts, including the State Supreme Court, have affirmed the constitutional right to privacy, and Planned Parenthood of Montana will always do whatever we can to ensure that medical privacy and safe abortion access remain protected for Montanans and families.”