Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Abortion bill passes in Senate
Requires minors get consent of parent, guardian for procedure
TALLAHASSEE — A bill requiring pregnant girls to get the permission of their parent or guardian before getting an abortion cleared a major hurdle Thursday, passing the Florida Senate by a 23-17 vote.
The party-line vote, with Republicans in favor and Democrats opposed, means the bill likely will become law and set up an all but inevitable broader legal battle over abortion rights. The Senate didn’t bring a similar bill up for a vote last year, but will now send it to the House, which passed the bill of its floor last year. Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to sign the bill once it gets to his desk.
“Mark this day on your calendar,” said Laurie Goodhue, executive director of the Florida Alliance of Planned Parenthood Affiliates in a released statement. “This is the day the majority in the Florida Senate decided not just to endanger Florida’s at-risk youth to score cheap political points but to open the doors to overturning Florida’s
Roe v. Wade.”
Democrats pointed to a similar law struck down by the Florida Supreme Court in 1989, in a decision that relied on a provision in the state constitution that ensures a right to privacy — the same right the U.S. Supreme Court leaned on in Roe vs. Wade, the 1973 case granting abortion rights.
“We should not be putting a bill up designed to chip away at the right for a woman to control her own body,” said state Sen. Lauren Book, D-Plantation,
during the hour-long debate.
But Republican state Sen. Kelli Stargel, sponsor of SB 404, noted her bill is different from the law that was struck down. It includes an option for girls to get a judge’s approval to get an abortion without their parent’s approval in extreme circumstances, such as incest, rape or sex trafficking.
“We have fixed those things the courts pointed out,” Stargel said.
Abortion rights advocates and Democrats, though, suspect the bill is mainly about challenging the court’s previous interpretation of the right to privacy. DeSantis installed a conservative majority on the Florida Supreme Court shortly after taking office, due to the retirement of three liberal judges due to age limits.
If the court overturns the previous ruling, it could open the door to greater restrictions on abortion rights, advocates fear.
Florida voters passed a constitutional amendment requiring parental notification — although not consent — in 2004, and a judicial waiver already exists in that process. In 2018, according to court data, there were 193 petitions to waive the parental notification requirement, and all but 11 were approved.
Democrats argued the bill wasn’t needed because parents are already notified, adding that in circumstances where a child has a dysfunctional relationship with their parent, the judicial waiver process is cumbersome. That could lead to pregnant girls seeking illegal abortions, they said.
“We don’t want to be promoting backroom abortions and that’s what this bill would be doing,” said Sen. Lori Berman, D-Lantana.
But Stargel countered that the bill only pushes a child to talk to their parents before making an important life decision, and that the notification requirement has loopholes that don’t ensure such a conversation takes place.
She told the story of coming to her mother when she was 17 with the news she was pregnant, and ultimately going against her mother’s wishes to have the child.
“It was the most difficult discussion I’ve ever had in my life,” Stargel said. “I decided that no, I did want to have the baby … I honestly think this is solving a problem that needs to be fixed.”