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Fla. Supreme Court strikes down parental notice abortion law
Thu Jul 10, 8:23 PM ET
By BILL KACZOR, Associated Press Writer
PENSACOLA, Florida - The Florida Supreme Court (news - web sites) has struck down a law that requires parents to be notified at least 48 hours before their children under 18 can obtain abortions.
By a 5-1 vote Thursday, the justices in Tallahassee said the 1999 law violates privacy rights guaranteed under the Florida Constitution.
The opinion reinforced and relied heavily on a similar state Supreme Court decision that overturned a parental consent abortion law in 1989. That decision also rested on the state constitution' s explicit privacy guarantee.
" We recognize that the legal issue of abortion has been one of the most gut-wrenching, emotionally laden issues of the past decades in Florida," Senior Justice Leander Shaw wrote for the majority. " Sitting as a court, however, we cannot be ruled by emotion."
He said the state' s privacy guarantee is stronger than rights provided by the U.S. Constitution. The majority found no compelling state interest in restricting the privacy guarantee with a parental-notification law.
Lawmakers had passed a similar notification bill in 1998 but it was vetoed by then-Gov. Lawton Chiles. Gov. Jeb Bush, brother of President George W. Bush (news - web sites), signed the bill a year later, but it was never enforced because of the legal challenge from abortion providers.
The ruling was criticized by the governor, an abortion opponent.
" It' s hard to imagine we live in a society where parents wouldn' t be notified of an abortion," Bush said.
The Republican governor was thrust into a heated debate over abortion earlier this year after he sought to have a guardian appointed for the fetus of a severely retarded rape victim, apparently because of the possibility she might obtain an abortion.
A state judge in Orlando repeatedly said there was no basis in the law for appointing a guardian for a fetus. The court appointed a guardian for the woman herself, and a plan was reached for the pregnancy to go forward.
Abortion-rights proponents were pleased with the court' s decision Thursday.
" The court recognized the harms that such laws impose on young women, including possible physical and emotional abuse, lack of access to confidential medical care, forced teen motherhood and delay in obtaining medical care," said Bebe Anderson, a lawyer for the New York City-based Center for Reproductive Law & Policy.
Anderson said the decision cannot be appealed to the federal level because it is grounded in the Florida Constitution.
" This decision is outrageous and terrible," said Mike McCarron, executive director of the Florida Catholic Conference. " It robs children of their parents' involvement in vital health decisions, and it robs the parents of their right to raise and properly care for their children," he said.
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