RULES ARE TOO DIFFERENT IN FLORIDA

by

Thomas A. Horkan, Jr.

May 13, 1999

   Several years ago the state tourism office publicized the slogan "The Rules Are Different in Florida."  And the results are different too.  This was brought home recently by the glowing reports in the press about the reductions in teen pregnancy in the United States.  The reports were greeted by some as proof that sex education and contraception were finally having their desired effect, but many press reports mentioned increasing programs in abstinence education and chastity, as well as laws requiring parental consent before a minor has an abortion.  The reports relate to national figures, not Florida ones.

   Teen pregnancy rates are based on child births, abortions and miscarriages, the last being determined by estimates based on the first two.

   Many states require detailed reporting of abortions, including the age of the patient, but not Florida.  Florida law only requires a monthly summary from abortion clinics or abortionists, showing the number of abortions, the trimester and the reason given by the patient.  (In 1997, these reports showed that out of the 81,692 abortions reported, 98.5 percent gave the reason "personal choice.")

   A few newspapers cited figures that suggested the same reductions were taking place in Florida, but they were wrong. True, births to teenagers in Florida went down, from 1995 to 1997, by 1,037, according to the Bureau of Vital Statistics; but the same agency reports an increase in abortions over the same period of 6,947.  There is no reason to think that the increase is all due to adults.  Lest anyone think these are isolated statistics, national figures show a steady decline in abortions since 1990, while Florida shows a steady increase over the same period.

   Florida clearly is going in the opposite direction from the rest of the country.  The prime reasons for the decrease in abortions over the nation are the many state laws requiring parental consent or notice; detailed informed consent for the woman involved; efficient reporting laws; and regulation of abortion clinics similar to that required for health facilities.  A majority of states have all or some of these laws but not Florida.  Abortions have decreased most in states with these laws.

   I would like to put an end to this destruction of unborn life, but Florida's failure to protect minor girls and their parents, or vulnerable women, by tried and true laws, is inexcusable.

   Florida has adopted parental consent laws three times, only to have each struck down by the courts.  The first two were struck down under the then-changing U. S. Supreme Court rulings.  Once that court finally agreed on the requirements for such laws, the Florida Supreme Court determined that our constitutional right of privacy gave greater abortion rights than the U. S. Constitution.  In the case of In Re: T. W., the court ruled that since Florida law permitted a pregnant girl to consent to medical care for her pregnancy and for her unborn child, it could not require parental consent for her abortion.

   This year, the Florida legislature passed, and the governor is expected to sign, a law requiring notice to parents before their child has an abortion.  This law complies with U. S. Supreme Court guidelines for a court bypass in extreme circumstances, and I believe it will be upheld by the Florida Supreme Court.  But I have been wrong before.

   A Woman's Right to Know law, requiring explicit information before an abortion, was passed two years ago, but still is stalled in state courts over the same constitutional issue.  The state supreme court has yet to consider these other issues, but lawyers and lobbyists continue to try to expand on the T. W. ruling, and have been strangely successful.

   This year, Sen. Anna Cowin proposed a carefully re-drafted bill to outlaw partial birth abortions, a particularly grotesque form of killing a child who has been partially delivered from the mother.  A previous form of the legislation had been struck down as too broad.  Two Republican senators, who had voted for the earlier, broader law delayed and later killed Sen. Cowin's specific, narrowly-drawn bill, because of, as they put it, doubts about "constitutionality."  Constitutionality can only be determined by the Supreme Court, which will never hear it if the legislature fails to act.

   Even in the face of the same objections, attempts must continue to subject abortion clinics to the same regulations as other facilities, and to require the same reporting of abortions that most states do and that the federal Center for Disease Control reports on.

   The same lawyers that represent the abortion industry in opposing pro-life laws have brought a suit to force the state to pay for abortions for any woman on Medicaid.  The Hyde Amendment prohibits the payment of federal funds, but the industry claims that Florida's privacy amendment requires the state to fund these abortions.  The trial court said no, but the case is up on appeal.  Obviously, if the abortion industry wins this case, the number of abortions will increase even more.

   If the Supreme Court prevents Florida from joining the rest of the country in reducing the numbers of abortions, then a constitutional amendment is called for.  But legislative and legal backbones must be stiffened so that the court is challenged on each issue.

   The misleading reports about the lowering of teen pregnancy nationwide, the suggestions that the same is true in Florida and the backslapping of public and private agencies over their self-proclaimed success should not lull Florida into inactivity.  The rules have been too different in Florida for too long.  It is time for change.