Supreme Court rebuffs Montana attempt to revive parental consent abortion law

The Supreme Court declined on Thursday to hear a case seeking to revive a Montana law that required parental consent for minors seeking abortions. 

The state argued the law should be allowed to take effect, because “fundamental parental rights” outweigh a right to privacy that has long protected abortion in the deep red state.  

The parental consent law was first passed in 2013 but was subject to years of litigation and never took effect. The Treasure State's highest court struck it down last year, ruling that “a minor’s right to control her reproductive decisions is among the most fundamental of the rights she possesses.” 

Montana officials in their petition said parents have a right to be informed of and participate in their children's medical decisions, including abortion. They argued the state Supreme Court decision “watered down” those rights, which have been recognized under the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment. 

Conservative justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas wrote that the denial was based on technicalities, rather than the merits of the parental rights argument. 

The case “provides a poor vehicle for deciding that question.  It is therefore especially important that the denial of review is not read by interested parties or other courts as a rejection of the argument that the petition asks us to decide,” the justices wrote.  

While Montana is considered a very red state — one that President Trump won with 58 percent of the vote last November — abortion is currently protected up to the point of fetal viability because of a 1999 state Supreme Court decision. 

In 2024 voters also approved a ballot initiative that made it illegal for the government to regulate or restrict abortion before viability, which is around 24 weeks.