A teen can have a ‘baby’, but cannot have an ‘abortion’; US Court

Two months after the United States took away women’s right to safe abortion, a case involving a Florida teen sparked outrage. According to AFP, the unidentified 16-year-old girl went to court seeking an abortion because she was still in school and ‘not ready to have a baby’.

However, upholding an earlier ruling by a lower court, a Florida appeals court denied the teen an abortion, saying she isn’t ‘sufficiently mature’ enough to terminate her ‘baby’.  In the state of Florida, a minor seeking an abortion must obtain consent from at least one parent. However, according to court documents, the girl is ‘parentless’ and lives with a relative and a court-appointed guardian.

The lower court denied her request for a waiver of that rule, stating that she ‘had not established by clear and convincing evidence that she was sufficiently mature to decide whether or not to terminate her pregnancy’. The baby’s father appears to be unable to support her as well.

The appeal court’s decision to uphold the lower court’s decision infuriated US legislators, many of whom took to Twitter to express their displeasure. Pramila Jayapal, a Democratic lawmaker who has openly discussed her abortion, tweeted ‘This is the post-Roe America: A Florida court has ruled that a 16-year-old girl isn’t ‘sufficiently mature’ to have an abortion but IS mature enough to be a parent. Abortion rights must be codified immediately ‘.

Lois Frankel, a Democratic Florida legislator, called the ruling ‘unacceptable’, adding that it was ‘a dangerous & horrific example of Florida’s war on women’. ‘ “Not mature enough to have an abortion but mature enough to have a child. This is terrible, ‘said Malcolm Kenyatta, a state lawmaker from Pennsylvania. Florida allows abortions up to 15 weeks of pregnancy, and the teen is already 10 weeks pregnant, according to court documents.