TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) 鈥� A Florida appeals court ruled Wednesday that a state law that allows minors to get an abortion without their parents鈥� consent is unconstitutional.
A three-judge panel of the Fifth District Court of Appeal found that the state鈥檚 judicial waiver law violates parents鈥� Fourteenth Amendment rights to due process, citing the state's parental rights laws, a recent ruling by the Florida Supreme Court and the landmark 2022 that .
鈥淲hatever asserted constitutional abortion rights may have justified Florida鈥檚 judicial-waiver regime in the past unequivocally have been repudiated by both the U.S. Supreme Court and the Florida Supreme Court,鈥� reads the appeals court opinion penned by Judge Jordan Pratt and joined by Judges John MacIver and Brian Lambert.
For years, anti-abortion activists and Republican state lawmakers have worked to to petition a judge to access the procedure in Florida, which bans most abortions , before many women even know they are pregnant.
The appeals panel flagged the case as 鈥渁 question of great public importance鈥� for the Florida Supreme Court, which ruled in 2024 that a privacy clause in the Florida Constitution .
The three-judge panel sided with arguments made by state Attorney General James Uthmeier and ruled against a 17-year-old girl who is nearly six weeks pregnant and seeking an abortion without the knowledge or consent of her father.
The appeals court affirmed a lower court ruling that the girl, who is only identified as Jane Doe, lacks the 鈥渞equisite maturity鈥� to make the decision without a parent or legal guardian involved.
The opinion said the decision was based on her lack of 鈥渆motional 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."
___ Kate Payne is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
Kate Payne, The Associated Press
