A 17 year old girls wins a successful appeal to Florida’s abortion notification law.  So now they will toughen it, says a Senator.   See, we can’t let those judges “misunderstand” our intent, says the Senator…we need to make laws tougher so that judges won’t “misinterpret.”  

To the credit of a local newspaper, they see problems with the law.  AND, their final recommendation in today’s editorial is to do away with the law.    Here is a summing up of the issue in the local paper the past week.

Girl, 17, Wins Abortion Appeal
Court rules no lack of maturity shown, overturns denial of notification waiver.

LAKELAND — A Lakeland-based appellate court ruled late Thursday that a 17-year-old girl could get an abortion without telling her parents.

In doing so, it overturned the decision of a Polk circuit judge, who had denied the girl a waiver to a new law requiring a minor to notify her parents before having an abortion.

It was unclear Thursday whether this is the first time that any Florida appeals court has reversed a lower judge’s denial of a waiver.

But the 2nd District Court of Appeal, based in Lakeland, noted this was the first time that it ever has been called upon to “sort out and apply a new and uninterpreted” parental notification statute. The Florida Legislature approved it in the spring, and it became effective June 30.

“There is scant Florida case law interpreting or applying it,” wrote Judge Stevan T. Northcutt for the majority in the court’s lengthy opinion.  The new Florida law requires a physician to notify the parents or guardians of girls younger than 18 before performing an abortion. But if the girl does not want her parents or guardians notified, she can request a waiver from a judge.

And so the local newspaper editorializes about this today pretty fairly.  
Notification Law Has Problems

In the case decided Thursday by the 2nd District Court of Appeal in Lakeland, an unidentified girl only about a month away from her 18th birthday sought an abortion based on a home pregnancy test. When the test showed she was pregnant, she sought an abortion without first seeing a doctor. The abortion provider referred her to the court system under the new notification law because she didn’t want her parents to know about it. The new law took effect June 30.

In an expedited hearing (as provided by law) before Circuit Judge Ellen Masters, the girl, represented by a court-appointed attorney and two from the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Florida, sought a judicial waiver of the notification requirement. She testified that she had graduated from high school with high grades and was enrolled in a trade school. She had consulted with her boyfriend, whom she intended to marry within a year, and they agreed on an abortion. She said she was in no position to raise a child at this point in her life.”

…….”The appellate panel emphasized it wasn’t criticizing Masters’ ruling, noting she had only 48 hours to hear evidence, research the law and make her decision. The appellate court had only 10 days to do its job. The problem is that there is no legal precedent for the notification law in this state. Who should decide “maturity,” and what are the criteria? The same questions arise for the best interest of the girl. The plaintiff in this case was nearly an adult under the law. What about a 16-year-old? Or a 13-year-old?”

…….”If this law is allowed to stand by the federal courts — a very big “if” — the Legislature needs to make provision for some of the shortcomings highlighted by this case. Better yet, it ought to consider repealing this law altogether.”

BUT here comes the Republican party to the rescue, they know just how to handle it.  Just change the law so there is no “out” for the judges to use…..very simple.  That is how we do things here in Florida.  We just can’t have those judges “misunderstand”.  

Abortion Ruling Upsets Lawmaker
Notification law should be rewritten, state Rep. Dennis Ross says.

LAKELAND — An appeals court’s ruling that allows a 17-year-old to get an abortion without notifying her parents shows the state’s parental notification law needs to be rewritten, a Lakeland lawmaker says.

“If a minor attempts to receive an exemption, and the judge hearing the case denies it, that should be it,” state Rep. Dennis Ross, a Republican, said Friday.

“I feel we will have to revisit the law as a legislature and set standards by which an appellate court can overturn a judge’s decision in such cases.”

……””I was enraged because their (the District Court of Appeals judges’) action was contrary to the intent of the law,” said Ross.

“We put the safety valve in that law that was supposed to be decided by the judge hearing the case, not for the appellate court,” he said, adding that he expects lawmakers to revisit the issue in the 2006 Legislature.”

……“Judges can grant a waiver based on a girl’s level of maturity or because she has been a victim of abuse by her parents or if telling the parents is not in the girl’s best interest.

The Legislature, which had tried several times to pass a law requiring that parents must be notified before a minor daughter is allowed to have an abortion, added a judicial relief clause to make it constitutional.

Ross said such judicial relief was intended only for difficult circumstances.

AND guess who gets to determine “difficult circumstances”, and guess what they will do next?  They will try to take out the “safety valve” that is there.    That’s the way we do things in Florida.