Girl, 15, Needs Parents’ OK for Abortion, Kennedy Says

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy today blocked a 15-year-old Florida girl from getting an abortion without first receiving the consent of her parents or a judge.

The stay came just three hours after the Florida Supreme Court said it would allow the girl to get an abortion, clearing the way for other minors to have abortions without such permission.

The state’s abortion-consent law, which took effect in February, was ruled unconstitutional by a state appellate court Friday, and the state Supreme Court said today that it would rule this fall on the law’s constitutionality.

Kennedy, acting on a request by a lawyer appointed to represent the fetus, issued a stay in Washington. His order blocks the abortion until the full U.S. Supreme Court considers the matter, probably at a closed conference Thursday.

The case involves a 15-year-old girl who wants an abortion but was afraid to seek her parents’ consent.

“Certainly time is of the essence, and that can be determined from the flurry of activity,” Richard Boylston, the lawyer appointed to represent the interest of the fetus, had said earlier.

Jerri Blair, attorney for the Lake County 15-year-old, filed a motion Monday to dissolve the stay.

The girl is 12 weeks pregnant, and many clinics won’t perform abortions after the 13th week of pregnancy because of a greater risk of medical complications, she noted.

Before Kennedy issued his stay, Blair refused to say whether her client had been told of the Florida high court decision and also said she will not disclose any decision the girl might make on whether to go ahead with the abortion.