Lambert v. Wicklund

Summary

In 1995, Montana passed the Parental Notice of Abortion Act. The statute required a physician who would perform an abortion on a minor to inform the minor’s parents or legal guardian 48 hours prior to performing the abortion. The law also allowed for a “judicial bypass” of parental notification if the minor believed (and a court agreed) that informing her parents was not in her best interest.

Multiple abortionists challenged the law in court, claiming that the option for a judicial bypass did not go far enough to protect the minor’s so-called “right to an abortion.” The federal district court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled in favor of the abortionists.

Montana appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, and Alliance Defending Freedom funded an amicus brief filed in support of the state law. In a per curiam opinion, the Court upheld Montana’s parental notification law as constitutional.