Concurrence Rehnquist | End date 1979 | |
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Full case name Bellotti, Attorney General of Massachusetts, et al. v. Baird, et al. Citations 443 U.S. 622 (more)99 S. Ct. 3035; 61 L. Ed. 2d 797; 1979 U.S. LEXIS 17 Prior history 450 F.Supp. 997, affirmed. Majority Powell, joined by Burger, Stewart, Rehnquist Concurrence Stevens (in judgment only), joined by Brennan, Marshall, Blackmun Similar Harris v McRae, Eisenstadt v Baird, Webster v Reproductive Health Se, Doe v Bolton, Stenberg v Carhart | ||
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. 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."