Opinion ID: 1684920
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: The Controlling Law and the Trial Court's Judgment

Text: There can be no doubt that the controlling law on this issue is set out in Justice Shaw's opinion for the Court in the case of In re T.W., 551 So.2d 1186 (1989). The Court's opinion there concludes that women, including unwed minors, are vested with the right, under Florida's express constitutional right to privacy, to determine by themselves, and as a private matter, whether to terminate a pregnancy. [67] That is the prevailing law. That same opinion holds that the government cannot intrude upon this fundamental right of privacy unless it can demonstrate a compelling state interest for doing so, and that its proffered legislation serves that interest by a means most narrowly tailored to do so and that is least intrusive on the woman's fundamental right to privacy. [68] That, too, is the prevailing law. The Court's opinion in In re T.W. found the government's claim to a compelling interest flawed because the government, while asserting a compelling interest in the minor's health, had actually enacted numerous other statutory schemes that placed absolutely no restrictions on the minor's health decisions in instances arguably fraught with far more risks than a termination of pregnancy: In light of this wide authority that the state grants an unwed minor to make life-or-death decisions concerning herself or an existing child without parental consent, we are unable to discern a special compelling interest on the part of the state under Florida law in protecting the minor only where abortion is concerned. Id. at 1195. In other words, the Court determined that the government's interest could hardly be described as compelling when it was not invoked in these other serious health care situations. The Court's opinion noted that the net effect of the inconsistent statutory schemes appeared to improperly single out the minor's decision to terminate her pregnancy as the only concern of the government. [69] Hence, the Court concluded that by its inconsistency the government had failed to demonstrate a compelling government interest in the minor's decision-making process concerning her health care. The patent inconsistency was found to be fatal to the government's claim. Because the same inconsistency found controlling in In re T.W. still exists today, the trial court and today's majority opinion simply conclude that the government has again failed to demonstrate a compelling interest in the minor's health care decisions. As Circuit Judge Lewis pointedly explained in the final judgment: The contrast between the Legislature's treatment of a minor's decision to choose an abortion and its treatment of comparable decisions by a minor is as stark today as it was when the Florida Supreme Court issued its decision in T.W. Section 743.065, Florida Statutes, continues to allow an unwed pregnant minor to consent to dangerous medical procedures for herself and for her child without any involvement of the minor's parent. A minor may still give a child up for adoption without any involvement of the minor's parent or legal guardian. Physicians, health care professionals, and health facilities may examine and provide treatment for sexually transmitted diseases to any minor without any parental involvement, and a minor aged 13 or over may obtain mental health diagnostic and evaluative services and outpatient crisis intervention services without parental involvement. In addition, a minor may obtain contraceptives and pregnancy tests from health care providers without any requirement that a parent be notified. Surely, we cannot fault the trial court for being faithful to this Court's controlling precedent in In re T.W. Of course, we too, are bound to follow that precedent, and, accordingly, approve the trial court's judgment. In short, this is the controlling law from this Court's precedent in In re T.W. and this is the controlling law that was strictly adhered to by the trial court in its detailed analysis finding that, as in In re T.W., the government had again failed, for the very same reasons discussed in In re T.W., to demonstrate a compelling state interest for interfering with the pregnant minor's explicit right of privacy in deciding whether to terminate her pregnancy.