A Florida court ruling that a 16-year-old is not “mature enough” to have an abortion has sparked outrage. “This is a dangerous and horrible example of Florida’s war on women,” tweeted Democratic Representative Lois Frankel on Tuesday. “If a young woman is too immature to decide to have an abortion, how can she have a baby?”
Representative Pramila Jayapal called the decision by a Florida appeals court “disgusting”. She was “angry” that a teenage girl was being forced to give birth.
On Monday, an appeals court denied a 16-year-old girl the right to an abortion, upholding a lower court sentence. The 10-week pregnant teenager told the court she was “not ready to have a baby”. She still goes to school, doesn’t have a job, and the child’s father can’t help her.
State-appointed guardian
However, the lower court ruled that the young woman had not “proved clearly and convincingly that she was mature enough to decide whether to terminate the pregnancy”. The Court of Appeal upheld this decision.
In Florida, minors need parental consent to have an abortion. However, the young man in this case has no parents. She lives with a relative and has a state-appointed guardian. The girl therefore asked the court for permission to have an abortion.
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The right to abortion is one of the most controversial sociopolitical issues in the United States. The country’s Supreme Court in June overturned a landmark nearly 50-year-old ruling that upheld the national right to abortion. As a result, several conservative-ruled states began to drastically restrict access to abortion.