New Florida Bill Requires Minors To Receive Parental Consent For Abortions
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On Jun 30, Florida Gov Ron DeSantis signed a bill requiring minors to obtain parental consent in order to have an abortion.
Senate Bill 404, which became active Jul 1, states that physicians will deal with “criminal penalties” for preforming an abortion without the minor’s parent or legal guardian’s permission.
This new bill supports the Republican ideology of pro-life, which places strict regulations on abortions. However, it doesn’t represent what most Florida adults believe. According to Pew Research Center, 56% of Florida adults support to idea of abortion in all or most cases.
Gov DeSantis chose not to comment on the bill signing, as written by Jim Saunders with the Tampa Bay Times. Senate President Bill Galvano, a Republican Rep. of Bradenton, supported the bill as well, saying that more parents need to be involved if their underage daughters are considering abortions.
This translates to the fact that if the guardian of the pregnant minor doesn’t approve of abortion, for any possible reason, they don’t have to give permission and expects the minor to continue through the terms of her pregnancy.
Research done by the American Civil Liberties Union, found that “almost 350,000 U.S. teenagers under the age of 18 become pregnant each year.” While an estimated 61% inform at least one parent/guardian about their pregnancy, the rest choose not to. Most teens that choose not to tell their parent/guardian fear that if they do, they’ll be kicked out of the house or abused. Others, also, don’t live with their parents or their parents were substance abusers.
In an article with NBC News, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists say that the risk of death is 14 times higher during childbirth than getting an abortion. The later a teenager is in their pregnancy, the more medical risks they face during an abortion, along with fewer doctors to perform them.
At this point, without parental consent, she’d be left with the option to go through with the pregnancy or to seek other ways to get an abortion.
There’s been instances like in 2005 when a 16-year-old boy was charged with a felony for beating his pregnant, teenage girlfriend in the stomach with a baseball bat. This took place in Michigan, where parental consent was required as well. The two allegedly agreed that it would be the only way to get rid of the fetus without trying to get parental consent for a proper procedure.
Many supporters of abortion laws argue that once the baby is born, the mother could give it up for adoption if they felt like they didn’t want a child or was unable to take care of it. However, that would end up putting the child in the foster care system which is already overpopulated with there being 437,465 children in the system as of 2018.
Abortion has been a big issue in this country for decades now as opponents believe that all human being should have human rights, while supporters argue that it should be solely the decision of the woman carrying the fetus.