Pro-Life News in Brief.

Florida Parental Notice Law Ruled Unconstitutional

The Florida Supreme Court struck down the state's 1999 parental notification law, ruling July 10 that parents do not have the right to be informed before their minor daughter has an abortion.

"I'm really disappointed," pro-life Gov. Jeb Bush told reporters, according to the St. Petersburg Times. "It's hard to believe that we live in a society where parents wouldn't be notified of an abortion, which is a very profound decision."

Pro-life groups condemned the court's 5-1 decision. "Using faulty reasoning and fractured judgment, the Florida Supreme Court has trampled on the rights of parents to protect their minor daughters from male predators," Mary Spaulding Balch, NRLC state legislative director, told NRL News. "Florida parents are outraged and I predict that you haven't heard the last of this."

The law was passed and signed by Gov. Bush in 1999, but has never gone into effect. It would have required abortionists to notify a minor girl's parents 48 hours before she could receive an abortion, the Times reported. The law contained a judicial bypass provision and an exception for medical emergencies.

The court ruling followed a previous Florida Supreme Court decision in 1989 that overturned a parental consent law. In both cases, the justices ruled that parental involvement in abortion would violate the girls' right to privacy. They found that the state had no "compelling interest" to "interfere" with this privacy right when a minor seeks an abortion, according to the Times.

The Florida court decision runs counter to laws in many other states and to decisions of the highest federal court. "Parental involvement laws are in effect in 25 states," Balch explained. "These laws have been upheld as constitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court on numerous occasions, and they have the support of the vast majority of the public."