The Montana Supreme Court Says That Teenagers Don’t Need Permission From Their Parents to Have an Abortion
HELENA, Mont. — The Montana Supreme Court decided on Wednesday that teenagers don’t need their parent’s permission to get an abortion in the state. This decision agreed with a lower court’s decision that the parental consent law violates the state constitution’s privacy clause.
Justice Laurie McKinnon wrote in the unanimous opinion, “We conclude that minors, like adults, have a fundamental right to privacy. This includes the right to make their own reproductive decisions and to work with a chosen health care provider to make medical decisions that affect their bodily integrity and health without interference from the government.”
The decision comes at the same time that a Montana measure to ask voters if they want to protect the right to an abortion before birth in the state constitution is set to appear on the ballot in November. Supporters say that enough signatures have been checked by county officials to put the question on the ballot. Votes for the general election must be certified by August 22 by the Secretary of State’s Office.
In 2013, the legislature passed a law about parental consent. However, it was stopped by an order that the attorney general agreed to at the time, so it never went into effect. A long string of judge replacements, recusals, and retirements kept the decision from being made until last year.
Because of a 1999 Montana Supreme Court decision, a state judge said in February 2023 that the law was against the constitution. This was because the right to privacy includes the right to a pre-viability abortion by the provider of the patient’s choosing.
A spokesperson for Planned Parenthood, whose case was heard by the Supreme Court, said, “We are pleased that the Court upheld the fundamental rights of Montanans today.” The ruling “affirms the right to privacy.”
The state said the law was needed to protect minors from being sexually abused, to make sure they had parents who could watch out for their mental and physical health after an abortion, to keep minors from making bad decisions, and to protect parents’ rights to decide how to care for, custody, and control their children.
There was disagreement among the justices, who said that the state “imposes no corresponding limitation on a minor who seeks medical or surgical care otherwise related to her pregnancy or her child.”
Republicans like Gov. Greg Gianforte were “worried and disappointed” by the decision, which said that parents do not have a basic right to watch over their young girls’ medical care.
The Guttmacher Institute, a policy group that fights for sexual and reproductive health care rights, says that 36 states require parents to be involved in their child’s choice to have an abortion. Some states need parental notice, while others also need permission.