TALLAHASSEE, FL -- Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill yesterday that prohibits physicians from performing or inducing the termination of the pregnancy of a minor without parental consent. The new law becomes effective today and makes Florida the sixth state to require both parental consent and notice before minor girls can get an abortion.
Senate Bill 404 requires a girl under 18 to have at least one parent’s permission before going through with an abortion. The bill includes exceptions for medical emergencies and allows a judge to grant permission instead of a parent. It also increases the penalties for not caring for an infant born alive during an abortion. The bill, which passed during the legislative session that ended in March, comes more than three decades after the Florida Supreme Court in 1989 struck down a similar parental-consent law.
