A Florida teenager will not be able to undergo an abortion without her parents’ knowledge or consent, after an appeals court upheld a circuit court ruling.
Previously, Circuit Court Judge Brandon Young found that the minor, identified only as Jane Doe, “failed to demonstrate sufficient maturity” to receive a waiver for the notification and consent requirement for the abortion. That decision was further upheld by a three-judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal in a unanimous ruling.
“In a detailed order, the circuit court determined, based on the non-adversarial presentation below, that Doe had not established by clear and convincing evidence that she was sufficiently mature to decide whether to terminate her pregnancy,” Judges Rachel Nordby, Robert Long and M. Kemmerly Thomas said.
Florida law requires written, notarized consent from parents or guardians before a minor can undergo an abortion; polling has shown overwhelming support for such laws.
READ: Abortion on minors should require parental consent, new poll shows
Despite this, the abortion industry has frequently attempted to have such laws overturned.
Earlier this month in Massachusetts, for example, Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts’ new CEO, Dominique Lee, announced that one of her first goals is to have the state’s parental consent and notification laws eliminated. “I think we have some of the strongest abortion protections, but we still have a lot of work to do to make it more accessible,” she said. “So things like eliminating parental involvement, proactively thinking about how we limit the ability for us to have TRAP laws [targeted regulation of abortion providers], combat misinformation, as well as thinking about how we provide additional education to our patients” (emphasis added).
Yet these laws do not serve as mere obstacles to prevent women from getting abortions. They protect minor children from abusers, as victims are frequently taken to abortion facilities to eliminate any proof of their crimes. The abortion industry has, historically, been all too willing to commit an abortion and look the other way, allowing the abuse to continue unchecked — and it’s even easier when parents have no idea an abortion ever took place.
