A Florida appeals court on Wednesday blocked a law that allows minors to get abortions without parental consent, arguing that it is unconstitutional.
The Fifth District Court of Appeal's three-judge panel found that Florida's judicial waiver law violates parents' Fourteenth Amendment rights to due process. Officials cited the state's parental rights laws, a recent ruling by the Florida Supreme Court.
Florida Court Rules on Minors Getting Abortion
The situation comes as for years, anti-abortion activists and Republican state lawmakers have made grounds to unravel minors' rights to petition a judge to access abortions in Florida. The state generally bans most procedures after six weeks, which is before women even know they are pregnant.
The court's appeals panel flagged the case as a "question of great public importance" for the state Supreme Court. In 2024, it ruled that a privacy clause in the state's constitution did not guarantee a right to abortion.
The judges took the side of state Attorney General James Uthmeier in ruling against a 17-year-old girl who was almost six weeks pregnant and looking to get an abortion without getting the consent of her father beforehand, according to ABC News.
The appeals court also affirmed the ruling of a lower court that found the girl, only identified as Jane Doe, did not have the "requisite maturity" to make that particular decision without a parent or legal guardian being involved.
They added that the decision was based on the teenage girl's lack of "emotional development and stability, her credibility and demeanor as a witness, her ability to accept responsibility, and her ability to assess the immediate and long-range consequences of her choices," The Register Citizen reported.
Expanding Abortion Access
The situation comes as in November last year, an amendment to expand abortion access across the state failed. The ballot proposal would have allowed procedures in Florida up to the point of fetal viability.
Proponents of the bill faced hurdles in getting the proposal to pass, as they required 60% approval for passage as the state's Republican leadership fought against it. That vote means that the state's six-week ban will stay in place.
This is something that has worried abortion access supporters, who argued that it would result in delayed care and endanger the lives of women. Florida was among 10 states that voted on abortion rights following the Supreme Court's decision to overturn abortion rights in 2022.
The failure of the amendment means that women looking for abortion will have limited access to abortion across the South. This area is where most states either ban the procedure at any time during pregnancy or up to six weeks, as per NPR.
