TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A surprise decision by a state appellate court has stripped away some options available to minors who are seeking an abortion without their parents’ consent.
The ruling reverses protections state lawmakers implemented when they passed the parental consent law back in 2020.
Florida’s parental consent law includes some exceptions that allow a minor to petition a judge to access an abortion without their parents’ approval.
Those exceptions include the minor proving they’re sufficiently mature to make the decision, the court determining parental consent wouldn’t be in the minor’s best interest or if the minor is the victim of child or sexual abuse inflicted by their parent or guardian.
Now, those first two options are off the table.
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In a ruling issued by the Fifth District Court of Appeal, a three-judge panel determined the maturity and best interest standards violate the 14th Amendment rights of parents.
“Any deprivation of parents’ due-process rights to notice and opportunity to be heard can no longer be justified by their children’s asserted constitutional right to obtain an abortion (much less a secret abortion that cuts presumptively fit parents out of the decision),” wrote Judge Jordan Pratt.
“It’s really devastating. We know that the majority of time minors who are accessing abortion include their parents in that decision-making process,” said Amber Gavin with a Woman’s Choice Clinic in Jacksonville.
Gavin argued the ruling will impact the state’s most vulnerable youth.
“This avenue was kind of a last resort for minors who are not able to include their parents in this decision-making process for fear of retribution like being kicked out of their homes,” said Gavin.
State Representative Anna Eskamani (D-Orlando) noted the judicial bypass was only used 130 times last year.
“So, it’s a very small population,” said Eskamani.
She said she fears even though this ruling only impacts Florida for now, it could end up having national implications.
“It could go to the US Supreme Court and it could impact the judicial waiver process for everyone across the country,” said Eskamani.
The ruling came after Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier inserted himself into a case involving a 17-year-old girl who was appealing a decision that rejected her petition for a judicial waiver.
In a post on social media he called the ruling a, “Major win… protecting the rights of parents to prevent their underage children from undergoing dangerous abortions without parental consent”.
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