SCOTUS Dodges Parental Rights Battle, Leaving Minor Abortions Without Consent

In a public statement accompanying the denial, Justice Samuel Alito made it clear that the Court’s denial of certiorari should not be misconstrued as a rejection of the argument that parents have a “right to know and participate in decisions concerning their minor child’s medical care, including a minor’s decision to seek an abortion.” (RELATED: Wisconsin Supreme Court Strikes Down Abortion Ban)

An abortion rights activist flies an upside down US flag, the international sign of distress, outside of the US Supreme Court during a protest in Washington, DC, on June 26, 2022, two days after the US Supreme Court scrapped half-century constitutional protections for the procedure. (Photo by SAMUEL CORUM/AFP via Getty Images)

Alito explained that the Court passed on the case because it was a “poor vehicle” for deciding its overarching question — primarily because the case was litigated in Montana state courts largely on state constitutional grounds, rather than directly addressing federal parental rights.

The Justice emphasized that it is “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 Montana case stemmed from a successful challenge to the state’s Parental Consent for Abortion Act, which generally required physicians to obtain parental consent before performing an abortion on a minor. The Montana Supreme Court struck down the law, leading the state to petition the U.S. Supreme Court.

“Parents’ authority extends to decisions about medical care,” Montana officials argued in their January appeal to the Supreme Court. “Because parents are presumed to act in their child’s best interest, the state may not ‘inject itself into the private realm of the family [and] question the ability of that parent to make the best decisions concerning the rearing of [their] children’ unless it has a reason to believe the parent is unfit.”

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