Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear his appeal of a ruling handed down by his state’s highest court invalidating a 2013 law that requires minors seeking an abortion to obtain notarized written consent from a parent or guardian.
The law also includes a judicial bypass provision, allowing minors to seek court approval for an abortion without parental consent.
The Montana Supreme Court struck down the Parental Consent for Abortion Act in 2024, ruling it violates a minor’s fundamental right to privacy under the state constitution by conditioning access to abortion on parental consent.
The court acknowledged parents have a right to direct the care and custody of their children but determined those rights don’t override the “fundamental” right of a minor child to seek an abortion.
Justice Laurie McKinnon, writing for the Montana Supreme Court, said “a minor’s right to control her reproductive decisions is among the most fundamental of the rights she possesses” and that the state failed to demonstrate a compelling need for the law to protect minors, Reuters reported at the time.
Source: Fox News
