Court Opinion

ID: 9427707
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:21:37.175975+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:09.249811
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice White,
dissenting.
I was in dissent in Planned Parenthood of Central Missouri v. Danforth, 428 U. S. 52, 94-95 (1976), on the issue of the validity of requiring the consent of a parent when an unmarried woman under 18 years of age seeks an abortion. I continue to have the views I expressed there and also agree with much of what Mr. Justice Stevens said in dissent in that *657case. Id., at 101-105. I would not, therefore, strike down this Massachusetts law.
But even if a parental consent requirement of the kind involved in Danforth must be deemed invalid, that does not condemn the Massachusetts law, which, when the parents .object, authorizes a judge to permit an abortion if he concludes that an abortion is in the best interests of the child. Going beyond Danforth, the Court now holds it unconstitutional for a State to require that in all cases parents receive notice that their daughter seeks an abortion and, if they object to the abortion, an opportunity to participate in a hearing that will determine whether it is in the “best interests” of the child to undergo the surgery. Until now, I would have thought inconceivable a holding that the United States Constitution forbids even notice to parents when their minor child who seeks surgery objects to such notice and is able to convince a judge that the parents should be denied participation in the decision.
With all due respect, I dissent.