Florida Appeals Court Says Girl Can Have Abortion Without Parental Notification, Despite Law
Posted on November 13, 2005
Yet another example of how our Court Systems think they are above the law. In this case they didn’t even have to create law from the bench, they just state that their opinion supercedes the law. What it really does is break the law.
In spite of the fact that Florida state law requires a physician to notify the parents or guardians of girls younger than 18 before performing an abortion, an appeals court has ruled that a 17-year-old can get an abortion without telling her parents.
As part of the law, there are certain specific criteria which would all a girl to obtain a waiver from a judge. In this case, the girl was denied a waiver by Circuit Judge Ellen Masters’ last month, who ruled she did not meet the criteria for a waiver.
In what is another case of judiciary trumps law, a majority of the three-judge panel in Lakeland, Florida, said that the girl has the maturity to decide whether to have an abortion or to decide if telling her parents would serve her best interests. Never mind that the law says otherwise.
The girl claims that her Catholic family would “adamantly oppose her decision [to abort the child]” and might kick her out of the house.
The law is no stranger to controversy. After being approved by 64.7 percent of voters on November 2, 2004, the Florida Supreme Court dismissed a motion filed by the ACLU and Planned Parenthood, which sought to strike down the law.
So when will someone step up and hold these judges accountable?
Linked at Choose Life
» Filed Under Activist Judges, News
Trackback URL
Comments
12 Responses to “Florida Appeals Court Says Girl Can Have Abortion Without Parental Notification, Despite Law”
Affiliations
The Giants
-
Advertise
Donate
Steal Me
Our Store
Click the design to visit our store and help Stop the ACLU!
More blogs about the ACLU
I wonder when they are going to find a father who really does not give a hoot about going to jail after he finds out they have given his daughter an abortion against his and his wife’s will.
But of course the leftist media will say it was the father’s fault.
Can the appeals court judge be arrested and tried for conspiracy to commit murder and/or aiding and abetting a crime. If not for either of those, how about contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Nobody should be above the law and there must be some law this judge has violated. When the common people begin to lose respect for the courts and the judges America will become a more dangerous place.
I’m already there, I’m waiting on the rest of us common people to wake up. What the 9th Court of Appeals did last week against parental rights would have been enough to start a revolution not too far back in our history. Whats wrong with us now? We can just go back to our caves and watch t.v. and escape from what is happening in the real world? Tell me what will it take to wake up enough people to make some change.
If the court of appeals was involved, that means the original refusal was appealed. It’s not that hard to understand.
This is entirely within the law. The court of appeals hears appeals. Sometimes, those original rulings don’t stand up - that’s the purpose of an appeal.
You guys don’t hate ‘activist judges’, you hate the entire american system of law. There are plenty of countries out there where courts are just puppet shows for the people in power. Pick one you like and go there.
What we hate are judges breaking the law, and creating the law, when their job is to interpret it. Tell me how this was interpreting a law. It takes a lot of interpreting to come up with an interpretation exactly opposite of the law.
The original law was ruled constitutional, and the judge overruled the will of a higher court by saying this particular girl can get an abortion. This judge should recognize the precedent of a higher court and stop legislating from the bench.
What I want to know is who fathered the child? Where is he? Why is he not on trial?
And Wisco, stuff a sock in it. You don’t understand what judicial activism means, it seems, and should go pray to ST.FU!!!
Let me explain something to you, Jay, in the faint hope it sticks.
The law requires a physician to notify the parents or guardians of girls younger than 18 before performing an abortion. However, if the girl does not want her parents or guardians notified, she can request a waiver from a judge. REMEMBER THAT PART.
The original circuit court judge denied the waiver request.
The girl appealed (hence the term “appellate court”).
The appellate court judge granted the waiver.
Ergo, no laws were broken.
Now, were there nothing written into the new law allowing for waiver requests, you might have a point. As it is, you are blinded by, among other things, your one-sided take on the world.
Why didn’t the parents call the police and report their child was raped? Under 18 not able to consent. Sent the little Bastard to Jail.
“Under 18 not able to consent.”
In Florida, the age of consent is 16 if the partner is under 24, 18 otherwise. There aren’t many states with an unconditional age of consent of 18 anymore.
This is so ridiculous! Nobody under the age of 18 should be allowed to have an abortion without parental notification as well as consent. Besides nobody should even want to have an abortion. Get real this is stupid your gonna kill your unborn child. What did the baby do wrong? Nothing! If you can’t afford to have a baby you should atleast have it and give it up for adoption don’t kill it. What if you can never have kids again after that because something in you gets messed up. This is careless and stupid and your obvously only tryna look out for number one.
I am writing this to respond to Shadiera who posted on November 29th. Know this, I am the parent of a 15 year old girl, so you may find my response to be incredible. I have the deepest contempt for parental involvement laws. Not only do they discriminate against minors seeking abortions, they discriminate against those parents like myself who would counsel in favor of abortion for minors wishing to have their babies do not even half to involve their parents at all. We as parents have the right to guide our children and to inculcate them with our beliefs. WE DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO DECIDE THEIR DESTINIES!!!!! There are few things that impact ones destiny more then becoming a parent.
Teenage pregnancy is a bad problem. Given what I stated above, the final choice whether or not to abort must be made by the party who will bear its consequences regardless of her age. Though if the girl were really young, I would mandate that she have an abortion regardless of her feelings because of the danger of having a baby at such a young age.
Keep in mind that the minor who won on appeal was within one month of turning 18. As far as I am concerned the trial court abuses discresion in denying her the bypass she requested. Her pregancy was not advanced enough for the denial to block her from executing her decision. There is no way that any judge could have found that delaying the abortion for four or five weeks would have been in her best interest, therefore the appeals court was correct. The florida legislature has no bussiness being angry over this. I have to go back to work now. Feel free to respond to this.