Bellotti v. Baird (1979)
Bellotti v. Baird | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||
Argued February 27, 1979 Decided July 2, 1979 | |||||||
Full case name | Bellotti, Attorney General of Massachusetts, et al. v. Baird, et al. | ||||||
Citations |
99 S. Ct. 3035; 61 L. Ed. 2d 797; 1979 U.S. LEXIS 17 | ||||||
Prior history | 450 F.Supp. 997, affirmed. | ||||||
Holding | |||||||
States may require parental notification before a minor may obtain an abortion, but must provide an alternative procedure to parental approval. | |||||||
Court membership | |||||||
| |||||||
Case opinions | |||||||
Majority | Powell, joined by Burger, Stewart, Rehnquist | ||||||
Concurrence | Rehnquist | ||||||
Concurrence | Stevens (in judgment only), joined by Brennan, Marshall, Blackmun | ||||||
Dissent | White | ||||||
Laws applied | |||||||
U.S. Const. amend. XIV |
Bellotti v. Baird, 443 U.S. 622 (1979) is a United States Supreme Court case that ruled that teenagers do not have to secure parental consent to obtain an abortion.
The Court, 8-1, elaborates on its parental consent decision of 1976. It implies that states may be able to require a pregnant, unmarried minor to obtain parental consent to an abortion so long as the state law provides an alternative procedure to parental approval, such as letting the minor seek a state judge's approval instead. This plurality opinion declined to fully extend the right to seek and obtain an abortion, granted to adult women in Roe v. Wade, to minors.[1] The Court rejected this extension to minors by placing emphasis on the especially vulnerable nature of children, their "inability to make critical decisions in an informed and mature manner; and the importance of the parental role in child rearing."[1][2]