{"id":308525,"date":"2024-03-13T16:38:13","date_gmt":"2024-03-13T21:38:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=308525"},"modified":"2024-03-13T13:44:04","modified_gmt":"2024-03-13T18:44:04","slug":"montana-supreme-court-abortion-parental-consent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/montana-supreme-court-abortion-parental-consent\/","title":{"rendered":"Montana Supreme Court hears legal challenge to law requiring parental consent for abortion"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

On March 6, the Montana Supreme Court heard<\/a> oral arguments in a more than decades-long case over the state’s Parental Consent for Abortion Act (HB 391) as well as a voter-approved referendum from 2012 regarding parental notification when a minor under the age of 16 seeks an abortion. The law was set to take effect without the signature of then-Gov. Steve Bullock, but never did, due to an immediate lawsuit from Planned Parenthood of Montana. Planned Parenthood of Montana also challenged the voter-approved referendum.<\/p>\n

Designed to protect<\/strong><\/p>\n

Under the parental consent law, girls in the state under the age of 18 would have to have notarized written consent from their parent or legal guardian to undergo an abortion. Exceptions would be allowed in a medical emergency or if the minor was successful in petitioning a court to waive the requirement (known as “judicial bypass”). The case has been moving through the state judicial system, and the last ruling regarding it was handed down by District Judge Chris Abbott, who found the law invalid, arguing that it would infringe on the right to privacy in the Montana Constitution.<\/p>\n

Attorney General Austin Knudsen has appealed Abbott’s decision. Deputy Solicitor General Brent Mead told the state Supreme Court justices last week that Abbott should have analyzed the law differently because the Montana Constitution grants the state more authority to make laws that affect the rights of minors. He said the 1999 Supreme Court decision in Armstrong v. State<\/a><\/em>, which said abortion was covered by the state constitution’s right to privacy does not apply to this law.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnder Article 2, Section 15, a minor’s rights can be infringed if the law is designed to protect them,\u201d said<\/a> Mead. \u201cAnd so in this case, the full Article 2, Section 10 \u2013 the right to privacy \u2013 doesn’t attach because the law is designed to protect them in that protected interest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Planned Parenthood argued that Abbott did use the right standard in deciding the case because the state, it said, would have to point to a legitimate health or safety risk to the minors.<\/p>\n

Failing victims of abuse<\/strong><\/p>\n

Parental consent for abortion protects minors from coerced abortion and can help rescue them from abusive situations. Live Action’s Aiding Abusers<\/a> investigation found that Planned Parenthood employees at seven facilities across several states were aiding actors posing as sex traffickers by counseling them on how to get their victims tested for STIs, the best way to get them abortions, and how to lie on forms about their victims’ ages.<\/p>\n

The investigation also revealed real-life cases<\/a> in which Planned Parenthood helped child rapists. One man, Sage Robert Lanza, was sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl, whom he took for an abortion at Planned Parenthood under pressure. He drove her to the appointment where the abortion was committed, and the victim was returned to her abuser. Planned Parenthood is a mandated reporter of abuse and, therefore, should have contacted authorities, but arrest records indicate that Planned Parenthood failed to do so.<\/p>\n

Planned Parenthood also\u00a0failed<\/a>\u00a0to report the rape of a 15-year-old after a staffer said it \u201cwasn\u2019t worth the hassle\u201d to contact authorities.<\/p>\n

In addition, a\u00a02014 study<\/a> on sex trafficking published by the Loyola University Chicago\u2019s Beazley Institute documented<\/a> how traffickers often force their victims to get abortions so they can quickly get them back to work. As Live Action News previously<\/a>\u00a0noted, the report found that victims had \u201csignificant contact with clinical treatment facilities, most commonly Planned Parenthood.\u201d In fact, Planned Parenthood was the top most-visited facility for trafficking victims, second only to hospital emergency rooms.<\/p>\n

In December, Planned Parenthood in Kansas City was caught on video aiding an undercover adult male reporter who was attempting to traffic a 13-year-old girl across state lines for an abortion. Missouri law<\/a> states that those 13 years old and younger cannot consent to sex with anyone. In addition, Missouri law states that no minor may consent to an abortion. In Kansas, where Planned Parenthood was going to send the girl for an abortion, the age of consent<\/a> is 16, and parental consent is\u00a0required<\/a>\u00a0for a minor to undergo an abortion.<\/p>\n

Minors and ‘privacy rights’<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is how parental consent laws protect minors.<\/p>\n

Mead made a comparison argument before the justices. “We prohibit minors from exercising entirely the fundamental right to privacy, as applied to the intimate choice to marry if they are under 16,\u201d he said, noting the state law which says girls under the age of 16 can not marry<\/a>, and the law that states minors under the age of 16 are not capable<\/a> of consenting to sexual intercourse.<\/p>\n

If a minor girl under age 16 is therefore seeking an abortion, it should be reported immediately by the abortion business as sexual abuse. However, history shows that Planned Parenthood repeatedly fails to protect young girls.<\/p>\n

The DOJ put a pro-life grandmother in jail for protesting the killing of preborn children. Please take 30-seconds to TELL CONGRESS: STOP THE DOJ FROM TARGETING PRO-LIFE AMERICANS.<\/i><\/b><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On March 6, the Montana Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a more than decades-long case over the state’s Parental Consent for Abortion Act (HB 391) as well as a voter-approved referendum from 2012 regarding parental notification when a minor under the age of 16 seeks an abortion. The law was set to take effect […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":294314,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[3473,11],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nMontana Supreme Court hears legal challenge to law requiring parental consent for abortion<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A district judge found the law invalid, arguing it would infringe on the 'right to privacy' in Montana's Constitution. 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