A radical group promoting abortion has lost its bid in court to overturn a parental consent law in the state of Missouri.

The American Center for Law and Justice reports it was a “decisive” victory for life, parental rights and the rule of law.

The court ruling, from the Circuit Court of Jackson County in Kansas City, dismissed the lawsuit filed by abortion promoters seeking to destroy “the state’s commonsense parental consent law.”

“This is a major win for Missouri families,” the legal team explained.

The ACLJ, which filed a legal brief in the fight to defend the right of parents to be involved in the most serious life decisions in their children’s lives, said, “A group of abortion activists backed by ‘The Lawyering Project,’ an organization devoted to expanding abortion through the courts, attempted to strike down Missouri’s long-standing parental consent law.”

The statute, which dated back decades, ensures minors cannot undergo abortions without the knowledge and consent of a parent or guardian.

The fight was taken by abortion promoters to extremes, the report said.

“In a shocking legal stunt, they sued a small handpicked list of prosecutors, asking the court to certify them as a ‘defendant class’ that could speak for the entire state – effectively silencing Missouri’s elected attorney general and the millions of citizens whose voices shaped the state’s pro-life protections. The ACLJ answered the Missouri AG’s request to file in opposition to this attempt to create a class for a class-action suit,” the ACLJ reported.

Now, with the dismissal, the result is “a resounding rejection of the abortion industry’s underhanded tactics,” the report said, and, “Missouri’s parental consent law remains in full effect – protecting young girls from being pressured or manipulated into abortions without their parents’ knowledge and preserving the state’s rightful authority to uphold pro-life values.”

Missouri @AGCHanaway wins major pro-life, pro-family decision after court dismisses lawsuit brought by pro-abortion organization “Right By You,” which sought to strike down the state’s longstanding parental consent laws protecting minors from secret abortion procedures.… pic.twitter.com/7onzNoCDis

— Samuel Lee (@samuelhlee) October 8, 2025

It’s also a win for Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway who has been defending the state’s broader pro-life protections in a separate case.

“The court affirmed that Missouri has both the right and the responsibility to protect minors, defend parental authority, and stand against the abortion industry’s reckless disregard for law and life,” the ACLJ said.

The court ruling found that that plaintiffs were operating “as an unincorporated association,” so they didn’t even have the right to sue.

“In the absence of statutory authority, a voluntary or unincorporated association cannot sue or be sued as such. As a general rule, an unincorporated voluntary association is not a legal entity apart from its members and therefore cannot sue or be sued as a separate entity,” the ruling said.

“Consequently, absent incorporation or other formal legal registration of Right By You with the Missouri Secretary of State, it remains purely a voluntary association with ‘no entity status beyond the status of those persons who comprise the association.'”

Bob Unruh

Bob Unruh joined WND in 2006 after nearly three decades with the Associated Press, as well as several Upper Midwest newspapers, where he covered everything from legislative battles and sports to tornadoes and homicidal survivalists. He is currently a news editor for the WND News Center, and also a photographer whose scenic work has been used commercially. Read more of Bob Unruh's articles here.