Montana’s highest court ruled on Wednesday that a law requiring minors to obtain parental consent before seeking an abortion violated the state’s constitution, siding with Planned Parenthood in a legal challenge.
Justice Laurie McKinnon, writing for the unanimous court, asserted that “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 justify the law as necessary to protect minors.
“This decision affirms the right to privacy, and we are pleased that the Court upheld the fundamental rights of Montanans today,” said Martha Fuller, president of Planned Parenthood of Montana, in a statement.
The office of Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, a Republican who defended the law, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The law, passed in 2013, had never taken effect due to the immediate legal challenge by Planned Parenthood. It included a provision allowing a minor to seek a waiver from a judge instead of obtaining parental consent.
Wednesday’s ruling does not impact a separate 2013 law requiring parents to be notified when their minor child seeks an abortion. That law is currently under a separate legal challenge.
Montana’s Supreme Court has recognized a right to abortion under the state constitution since 1999.
Abortion remains legal in the Republican-controlled state until fetal viability, usually around 24 weeks, even as other Republican-led states have banned or restricted it following the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling that eliminated the nationwide right to abortion.
