A pregnant 16-year-old Florida girl was denied an abortion after a judge ruled she was “too immature” to decide she should terminate her pregnancy.
The teen girl has many obstacles in front of her, and she told the court that having a baby shouldn’t have to be one of them.
The teenager, who is 12-weeks pregnant, is parentless, still in high school, doesn’t have a job, and has no support from her unborn child’s father. She is under the care of Florida’s Department of Children & Families until her 18th birthday. She does have an appointed guardian and she lives with a relative, who both verbally approve of the abortion. Because she is underage, she had to file through the courts to get permission to get an abortion with the signature of a legal guardian. She attempted to get a “judicial bypass” which would bypass parental permission. Her petition stated she was mature enough to decide to get an abortion and she claimed she “is not ready to have a baby”.
This petition was blocked by Circuit Judge Jennifer Frydrychowicz, who claimed she needed the signature. She then appealed it to the 1st district court of appeals. However, according to WTSP, the three-judge panel in Florida’s 1st District Court of Appeals mostly sided with Judge Frydrychowicz in that the teen, “had not established by clear and convincing evidence that she was sufficiently mature to decide whether to terminate her pregnancy,” the ruling states.
Judge Scott Makar, one of the three judges on the panel, stated in a separate opinion that “reading between the lines, it appears that the trial court wanted to give the minor, who was under extra stress due to a friend’s death, additional time to express a keener understanding of the consequences of terminating a pregnancy.”
The girl can appeal again and submit written consent from her guardian to get permission to get the abortion, but the cut off is 15-weeks, not leaving a lot of time to submit the paper work
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