Editorial: In Florida, denying access to abortion — again

Yahoo

23-05-2025

Florida's harsh restrictions on abortion just took a turn for the worse. Last week, a state appeals court struck down a safety net created to protect pregnant teenagers who want an abortion — but are afraid or otherwise reluctant to seek their parents' consent.
The decision was strange, from several perspectives. But the bottom line is this: Instead of simply upholding a trial court's ruling that denied the girl (identified as 'Jane Doe') an abortion, a three-judge panel of the Fifth District Court of Appeals brewed up a bizarre legal theory that the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees parents the right to exercise 'care, custody and control' of their children. Oddly enough, those words — or any mention of parental rights — appear nowhere in the 14th Amendment, which is also known as the 'Due Process' amendment.
This may seem like a lot of legal mumbo-jumbo, but it has serious implications: The appellate judges stripped away a major provision of Florida's parental consent law — one that many believe was essential to passing the law in the first place. Certainly, most underage girls should have the support and consent of their parents when contemplating such a drastic action. But the court ignored the grim reality that some teens have good reason to fear telling their parents they are pregnant and why. It could be incest, abuse or family alienation.
For those girls, the law allows them to seek permission from a circuit judge to terminate a pregnancy without their parents' knowledge. It's not an easy case to make. Girls must prove that they are mature enough to make the decision, and explain why they don't want their parents notified. Last year, only 130 teens petitioned for abortion access. Courts granted 121 of those petitions — including some filed in the state's most conservative counties.
Voters clearly understood the need for a safety valve when they approved an amendment that wrote the parental notification law into the state Constitution.
This decision is a travesty. Parents now have more rights over a child's body in Florida than an adult woman has over her own body.
The judges rationalized that any special consideration for minors ended when the U.S. Supreme Court repealed Roe v. Wade and the Florida Supreme Court followed suit. It's doubtful that Florida's high court, stacked with anti-abortion justices, would overturn this terrible decision.
But an appeal could go up to the U.S. Supreme Court, because the decision invoked the U.S. Constitution. We hope the justices there have more respect for Florida's law than the state officials who are sworn to uphold it.
And that leads to the last disturbing wrinkle in this case — the role played by James Uthmeier, recently appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis as the replacement for former Attorney General Ashley Moody. Under Florida law, Uthmeier is charged with defending state statutes and its constitution. Why, then, was he arguing for the judicial workaround to be declared unconstitutional — despite the fact that it was literally enshrined in the Florida Constitution?
He has not responded to the Sun Sentinel as to why. The legal briefs and other documents in the case are sealed unless a judge releases them.
Floridians also lack a good explanation for an earlier appellate-court ruling, this one heard by the First District Court of Appeal, that appears to lay the groundwork for the decision released last week.
The First District panel inventively said it could not accept jurisdiction of that teen's appeal because the law provided no opportunity for anyone to argue against her. Judge Bradford Thomas wrote that if the court had jurisdiction, it should nullify the judicial bypass law. It was a cue to other courts, DeSantis and the attorney general. The Fifth District seized on it, and set a course of jaw-dropping judicial activism.
The attorneys for 'Jane Doe' should appeal last week's decision, though any further rulings will probably be too late for the teen in question. But it could mean the world for desperate girls who need protection — protection that the state Legislature and the voters of Florida have guaranteed them, and that should not be casually tossed away.
The Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board includes Executive Editor Roger Simmons, Opinion Editor Krys Fluker and Viewpoints Editor Jay Reddick. The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Executive Editor Gretchen Day-Bryant, Editorial Page Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Editorial Page Editor Dan Sweeney and editorial writers Pat Beall and Martin Dyckman. Send letters to [e-mail].