The Supreme Court upheld parental rights to be informed in a minor’s abortion in a near-unanimous decision yesterday.
The case involves a 17-year-old Missouri girl who sought a court’s permission to receive a secret abortion in 2018 without receiving parental consent.
Court clerk Michelle Chapman, however, said her parents needed notification of the court date citing the removal of Roe v. Wade.
The girl received an abortion in a separate state and then sued Chapman for violating her rights. Both a federal court and an appeals court sided with the minor.
Both legal parties asked to dismiss the case as moot. But supreme court justices used a special judicial process to dismiss the case in an appeal, fearing it would set a precedent against parental consent laws.
Only Justice Ketanji Brown rejected this decision on technical grounds in a written dissent.
Because Chapman asked for a dismissal, Brown said the other justices had overused their special powers.