Florida judges' subjective decisions deny teenagers abortions, report says
Not having a driver's license. A poor GPA. Presenting as "a very young, immature woman." These were all reasons Florida judges denied underage teenagers seeking abortions in what Human Rights Watch said was a pattern of subjective decision-making that denied people care.
A new report by the advocacy organization detailed a number of situations where teenagers as young as 14 were denied an abortion due to Florida's laws around the procedure and the subjective decision-making process that some minors must go through to access care.
In Florida, where abortion is legal until 15 weeks of pregnancy, people under 18 must tell a parent or legal guardian that they are planning to get an abortion. Young people in the custody of the state who do not have access to a parent or legal guardian cannot rely on foster parents or caseworkers, according to state law, and instead have to petition a state trial court judge to obtain a judicial waiver. A study in the American Journal of Public Health found that about 15% of young people under 18 who seek abortion care in Florida, or about 200 people, use this method.
However, the organization alleged that this method can be subjective, since the young person must prove that they are mature enough to have an abortion, and under the law, the judge must use factors like "emotional development and stability," "overall intelligence" and "ability to accept responsibility" to make a determination.
"Placing decisions around young people's access to health care in the hands of judges is inherently problematic and incompatible with the right to health and its underlying principle of autonomy," the organization said in the report.
In a 2020 case, a 14-year-old teenage girl petitioned for a judicial waiver because she feared she would face abuse or homelessness if she told a parent she was seeking an abortion. According to court records, the judge found that she "presented as a very young, immature woman" who "did not provide clear and convincing evidence" that it would not be in her best interest to inform her parents. The decision was affirmed by an appeals court. According to the organization, advocates could not confirm if the 14-year-old ultimately accessed abortion care outside of the state or with her parent's permission.
In one January 2022 case, a 17-year-old girl was deemed "not mature" enough to receive abortion care, with the judge citing the teen's grade-point average and her lack of driver's license, even though she said she was waiting until she was older to learn how to drive. The appeals court reversed the denial, but did not address the more subjective parts of the judge's decision-making process.
In another case, from August 2022, a judge ruled that a 16-year-old was not "mature" enough to get an abortion. The decision was upheld by an appeals court, despite the teen acknowledging she is not ready "for the emotional, physical, or financial responsibility of raising a child" and "has valid concerns about her ability to raise a child."
In some situations, such as the January 2022 case, appeals courts reversed the decision of the judges, but in a state with a 15-week cutoff for abortion care, the group warned that the lengthy judicial process could still prevent people from receiving abortion care. Florida law says that appeals courts must rule on the case within seven days of its filing.
The court cases can also involve what the group called "invasive and stigmatizing questions." Young people going through the process also have to file paperwork for a judicial waiver before being connected with a court-appointed attorney, meaning that those teens who can't afford a lawyer of their own have to start the process by themselves. All of these factors, the organization said, could lead to young people keeping pregnancies against their will.
"Access to abortion is a human right, including for young people under 18," said the group in the report. "Human rights experts have consistently called for the removal of barriers that deny access to safe and legal abortion and have commented specifically on parental involvement requirements posing a barrier to abortion care."
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Kerry Breen is a news editor and reporter for CBS News. Her reporting focuses on current events, breaking news and substance use.
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