Supreme Court Passes on Review of Parental Consent Abortion Law

The US Supreme Court won’t consider a decision striking down a Montana law that requires a doctor to get a parent’s notarized written consent before performing an abortion for a minor, the top court said Thursday.

The state asked the justices to take a look at a Montana Supreme Court ruling invaliding the Parental Consent for Abortion Act of 2013 on the ground that it violates a minor’s state constitutional fundamental right to privacy. The decision runs contrary to parents’ federal constitutional rights to direct their children’s care, which includes the decision to have an abortion, the state said in its January petition for review.

This appears to be the first Supreme Court case testing a parental consent law following the top court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that there’s no federal constitutional right to abortion. Prior to that ruling, the Supreme Court upheld parental consent laws only if they contained a judicial bypass procedure. Montana’s provision fit this requirement, because it permitted a minor to go to court for an order allowing an abortion, the state said.

Justices Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Clarence Thomas said the case didn’t make a good vehicle for review because of the way it was pleaded, but that the denial of review shouldn’t be read as a rejection of the state’s argument.

There’s a circuit split over the scope of the fundamental parental rights guaranteed by the US Constitution, Montana said in its petition. The US Courts of Appeal for the Ninth and Fifth circuits have said parents have the right to know about their children’s major medical decisions, while the Third and Sixth circuits have said there’s no such right, the state said.

The top court should resolve the disagreement, because federal constitutional rights shouldn’t depend on where one lives, the state argued. “Parents shouldn’t have to navigate a patchwork of conflicting federal and state laws and legal doctrines to exercise a fundamental constitutional right,” it said.

A Planned Parenthood affiliate and a doctor originally challenged two laws—one requiring parental notification, and the other requiring parental consent—and the state agreed to an injunction blocking their enforcement in 2013. After summary judgment briefing in 2017, the case remained idle until February 2023 when a state trial court held the consent law unconstitutional. The Montana Supreme Court didn’t consider the notice act.

Montana voters added a right to abortion to the state constitution in November 2024, but state lawmakers are pushing measures to undo the vote.

Planned Parenthood has received funding from Bloomberg Philanthropies, the charitable organization founded by Michael Bloomberg. Bloomberg Law is operated by entities controlled by Michael Bloomberg.

The Montana Attorney General’s Office represents the state. Goodwin Procter LLP and Planned Parenthood Federation of America represent the plaintiffs.

The case is Montana v. Planned Parenthood of Mont., U.S., No. 24-745, review denied 7/3/25.