Case Title: Ex Parte Anonymous

Citation: 597 So. 2d 711

Docket Number: 1910828

State: alabama

Court: Alabama Supreme Court

Date: 1992-03-04T00:00:00Z

Document:
597 So. 2d 711 (1992)
Ex parte ANONYMOUS.
1910828.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
March 4, 1992.
*712 Elizabeth Potter Graham of Legal Aid Society of Birmingham, Inc., for appellant.
No brief for appellee.
PER CURIAM.
The minor appealed to the Court of Civil Appeals from the denial by the juvenile court of a waiver of consent for an abortion. The unmarried and unemancipated minor filed her petition pursuant to § 26-21-4, Code of Alabama 1975, for a waiver of parental consent for an abortion. Section 26-21-4(a) provides in part:
The required parental consent shall be waived if the court hearing the minor's petition finds either:
§ 26-21-4(f)(1) and (2).
The minor filed her petition in the juvenile court on January 31, 1992. Following a hearing on February 7, 1992, the juvenile court denied the petition. The court found:
The minor appealed to the Court of Civil Appeals. The Court of Civil Appeals, by an opinion dated February 19, 1992, remanded the case to the juvenile court "to permit that court, if it can, to make from the existing record specific findings of fact on both prongs of § 26-21-4(f) as required by § 26-21-4(g)." (Emphasis original.) In Ex parte Anonymous, 595 So. 2d 499, 500 (Ala.1992), we held:
In its order issued after its original hearing, the juvenile court addressed the first prong, but did not address the second. While the juvenile court did find "that parental consultation is preferable, desirable and in the minor's best interest," it failed to make a finding that the performance of the abortion is not in the minor's best interest. The Court of Civil Appeals remanded the cause for this reason.
On remand, the juvenile court again denied the minor child's request for a waiver of parental consent. As to the first prong, the juvenile court made the following findings:
"From the testimony presented the Court finds that the information the minor *713 has received on abortion is limited to what she read in an unidentified medical book that her mother had. The Court finds she was given no advice from medical professionals regarding the medical and physical effects of abortion.
As to the second prong, the juvenile court made the following findings and conclusions:
Following the issuance of this order by the juvenile court, the minor child again sought review by the Court of Civil Appeals. The Court of Civil Appeals, by opinion issued February 26, 1992, 597 So. 2d 709, affirmed the juvenile court's order, and the minor child filed her petition for review by this Court.
After a careful review of the record, which consisted of only the minor child's testimony, we cannot hold that the judgment of the Court of Civil Appeals was wrong. Based upon the evidence before it, we cannot say that the juvenile court erred in denying the waiver of parental consent and in holding that the performance of the abortion is not in the best interest of the *714 minor. Accordingly, the petition is due to be denied.
PETITION DENIED.
HORNSBY, C.J., and MADDOX, ALMON, SHORES, ADAMS, HOUSTON, STEAGALL and INGRAM, JJ., concur.