Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood of Northern New England

Summary

The state of New Hampshire passed a law in 2003 that required physicians to inform parents at least 48 hours prior to performing an abortion on their daughter if she was under the age of 18. Before the law went into effect, Planned Parenthood of Northern New England filed a lawsuit challenging it.

While New Hampshire’s law provided an exception if an abortion was necessary to save the life of the mother, Planned Parenthood argued it must also provide an exception if the mother faced a threat to her health that was not life-threatening . A federal district court struck down the law, and an appellate court affirmed.

New Hampshire petitioned for cert at the U.S. Supreme Court, and Alliance Defending Freedom funded an amicus brief supporting the state. In 2006, the Court ruled that even if a statute regulating abortion would be unconstitutional as applied to some young women in medical emergencies, “invalidating the statute entirely is not always necessary or justified.”

Justice Sandra Day O’Connor authored a unanimous decision for the Court, writing that lower courts “can issue a declaratory judgment and an injunction prohibiting [only] the statute’s unconstitutional application.” As a result of the ruling, the case was remanded to a lower court for further consideration.