TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The Florida Supreme Court struck down a state law July 10 that required minors to notify their parents at least 48 hours before obtaining an abortion. The 1999 law, which was signed by Governor Jeb Bush, never went into effect because of the court challenge. The law was struck down by a 5–1 vote and reversed a 1st District Court of Appeals ruling that had upheld the law.
Senior Justice Leander Shaw wrote the majority opinion, saying the law violated privacy rights within the Florida Constitution. “We recognize that the legal issue of abortion has been one of the most gut-wrenching, emotionally laden issues of the past decades in Florida,” Shaw wrote, according to the Associated Press. “Sitting as a court, however, we cannot be ruled by emotion.”
Justice Charles Wells, the lone dissenter, wrote, “It is illogical to me, if the state has such a compelling interest in parental responsibility, to conclude that there is not a compelling interest in ‘notifying’ the parent when the child is in a crisis situation.”
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