Today it was disclosed that a Florida judge had determined that a 16-year-old orphaned girl cannot get an abortion because she is “not mature enough” to make the choice.
The adolescent, who is without parents, is now appealing the judgement after being unable to end her pregnancy as a result of Circuit Judge Jennifer Frydrychowicz’s decision.
According to Florida law, if a girl under the age of 18 desires an abortion, her parent or legal guardian must provide their permission.
When the adolescent presented her case in court, she was 10 weeks along with her pregnancy.
The court decided that the adolescent girl was not mature enough to decide to abort the pregnant child, despite the fact that she claimed in her petition that she was “not ready to have a kid.”
The girl “had not proved by clear and compelling evidence that she was adequately mature to determine whether to terminate her pregnancy,” according to the decision by Judges Harvey Jay, Rachel Nordby, and Scott Makar.
The case should be brought back to Frydrychowicz at the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals in Tallahassee because it was a “very close call,” Makar said in disagreement to other justices.
According to Makar, the trial judge “appears to see this situation as a very close call, concluding that the youngster was ‘credible,’ ‘open,’ and noninvasive.
Given the statutory time restrictions in effect, he noted, he thought the adolescent “would likely be back soon—and to shore up whatever remaining doubt the trial court had.”
The youngster, according to Makar, had no parents but made the effort to look up more information online “to obtain a knowledge of her medical choices and their ramifications.”
The teenager is “pursuing a GED while participating in a programme meant to help young ladies who have encountered trauma in their lives,” the man said.
The child hand-wrote her petition, which she then presented to the court, claiming that “she is adequately mature to make the choice,” adding that she “is not ready to have a baby,” “is still in school,” and that “the father is unable to help her.”
He said that the teenager’s legal guardian, who went to court with her along with her caseworker, is okay with her choice to terminate the child.
Unfortunately for the kid, Makar said that despite having access to a free counsel, she ‘inexplicably’ ticked a box that indicated that she did not need one.
Frydrychowicz was praised by Makar for her behaviour during the hearing, noting that “she asked the child challenging questions on sensitive personal things in a loving way.”
Frydrychowicz is a registered Republican in a state led by Ron DeSantis, a Republican, making it more difficult for women to get an abortion than in places with Democratic governors.
Since Roe v. Wade was overturned, states now have greater discretion in determining whether women have the right to an abortion, and in Florida, getting one is become more and more difficult.
DeSantis enacted a legislation banning abortions beyond 15 weeks of pregnancy even before the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling earlier this year; the decision is now being challenged in court.
In response to the situation, the Florida Democratic Party’s Travis Reuther said, “Thanks to Ron DeSantis, Florida is now forcing a teenager to give birth against her will.”
Reuther stated, “That is an outrageous and dangerous overreach by the Governor, who claims to represent the “free state of Florida,” yet wants to decide on women’s healthcare for them.