High Court of Florida Upholds Abortion Rights : Ruling Preempts Move by Gov. Martinez to Seek Additional Restrictions

Only a week before the Florida Legislature was set to consider new restrictions on abortion, the Florida Supreme Court declared Thursday that the state’s constitution gives women an absolute right to end their pregnancies without governmental interference.

The surprise ruling means that no matter what the governor, the state Legislature or the U.S. Supreme Court have to say about the issue, Florida women will continue to be free to get abortions.

The decision also was seen as a sharp rebuke to Republican Bob Martinez, Florida’s governor and a staunch abortion foe. When the U.S. Supreme Court in July returned to the states some authority to regulate abortion, Martinez was the first governor to act by calling the Legislature into special session for the purpose of writing new abortion restrictions.

Thursday’s ruling by the state’s high court essentially strips Martinez and the Legislature of any power to restrict abortion.

Decision Significant

In the past, the supreme courts of both California and Massachusetts have concluded that their state constitutions protect the right to abortion. But the Florida decision is particularly significant because it comes as the U.S. Supreme Court appears ready to sharply limit the right to abortion under the U.S. Constitution.

In 1980, Florida voters added to their constitution an explicit “right to privacy” provision. It stated that “every natural person has the right to be let alone and freedom from governmental intrusion into his private life.” That provision, the state court said unanimously, gives women the right to end an unwanted pregnancy without governmental intrusion.

“We can conceive of few more personal or private decisions concerning one’s body that one can make in the course of a lifetime,” the court said.

The ruling also struck down as unconstitutional a state law requiring teen-aged girls to get their parent’s consent before getting an abortion. Two of the seven state justices disagreed with that part of the ruling.

“This is a huge judicial victory. It deprives Gov. Martinez of the authority to carry out his political agenda,” said Patricia Ireland, general counsel of the National Organization for Women.

Calls Decision ‘Shocking’

Martinez, in a prepared statement, called the decision “shocking” and “offensive.” The court has “struck a blow at the sanctity of the family,” he said. He said that he would shift the focus of the special session to a proposal for stricter medical regulations of private abortion clinics.

Officials in Florida said that the only way to reverse the state court decision would be to amend the Florida constitution. An amendment can be put on the ballot with the signatures of 5% of the voters and it would require only a majority vote for approval.

Thursday’s ruling came in the case of a 15-year-old Lake County girl, identified only as “T.W.,” whose bid to get an abortion in May attracted national publicity.

When she sought her abortion, a state judge and a mid-level appellate court gave her permission and said that the state parental consent law was unconstitutional. But acting on an appeal by a court-appointed “guardian” for the girl’s fetus, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy issued an order temporarily blocking her abortion. Two days later, the full court vacated the order, and she went ahead with the abortion.

Nevertheless, attorneys for the state appealed the issue to the state supreme court, leading to Thursday’s decision.