Reproductive Rights News Roundup

Florida Legislature passes abortion parental consent bill
By Brendan Farrington
Associated Press
Girls under the age of 18 will have to get a parent’s permission before having an abortion under a bill passed by the Florida Legislature on Thursday that Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to sign.

Florida minors will need parental consent for abortions: Lawmakers pass bill, send to DeSantis
By Samantha J. Gross
Tampa Bay Times
Excerpt: In Miami, members of the Latina Institute for Reproductive Health Florida, Miami Workers Center, Women’s March Miami and others met outside the Doral district office of Republican Rep. Ana Maria Rodriguez. Dian Alarcon, a field organizer for the Florida Latina Advocacy Network, noted that in Miami where there is a large immigrant population, undocumented parents can’t obtain a state ID to give consent to their daughters, complicating the process.

House Passes Bill Requiring Minors To Get Parental Consent For Abortions
By Jonah Hinebaugh
WUSF Tampa
Excerpt: Weintraub said Progress Florida and its national and state partners are ready to sue and take the issue to the state’s Supreme Court. “They say this bill is about teen health or family communication, it’s not,” she said. “It’s a Trojan horse of a bill and they want us to take it to the Supreme Court to see if the newly conservative court will see it as unconstitutional and that’ll open the door to a whole bunch of other anti-abortion legislation that will work toward making it illegal in our state.”

Parental consent abortion bill gets Florida House’s approval, bill now heads to governor’s desk
By Sarah Hollenbeck
WFTS Tampa Bay
Members of the Florida House of Representatives voted to pass House Bill 265, which requires parental consent for abortions.

As Florida’s abortion consent bill nears passage, a last stand in South Tampa
By Divya Kumar
Tampa Bay Times
As Florida lawmakers debated a contentious bill Thursday afternoon that would require parental consent for minors in Florida seeking abortions, a group of advocates expressed their opposition outside Rep. Jackie Toledo’s South Tampa office…“This bill is all about undue obstacles,” said Amy Weintraub, reproductive rights director of Progress Florida. “We consider this is a Trojan horse of a bill…this bill is intended to open the door to many, many, many other anti-abortion policies.”

Florida Democrats fail to derail bill requiring parental consent for abortion
Gray Rohrer
By Gray Rohrer
Orlando Sentinel
Florida House Republicans fended off several Democratic amendments Wednesday on a bill requiring parental consent for minors seeking abortions, including mandatory exceptions for rape, incest and human trafficking.

Florida wants tougher abortion laws, but do victims of rape, incest, trafficking even matter?
By Cindy Polo
Miami Herald
In November, I joined legislators from around the country on a fact-finding mission to El Salvador to learn about the consequences of the country’s total abortion ban. During our visit to the Izalco Detention Center, I met a woman named Sara.

“Parental Involvement” Mandates for Abortion Harm Young People, But Policymakers Can Fight Back
By Sophia Naide
Guttmacher Institute
Young people deserve access to the full spectrum of sexual and reproductive health care, including abortion care.

Marion County Commission gets into heated discussion over Pro-Life Sanctuary
By Julia Laude
WCJB Gainesville
Marion County Commissioners are interested in declaring the county a ‘Pro-Life Sanctuary.’

United States Drops to an ‘F’ in Reproductive Rights Report Card
By Dennis Carter
Rewire
The steady erosion of access to family planning services and abortion care across the United States has earned the country its first failing grade in the Population Institute’s eighth annual report card on reproductive health and rights.

The United States Is the Epicenter of the Anti-Choice Clinic Crisis
By Rachel Wells
Rewire
The global impact of crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs), or anti-choice clinics, hasn’t been fully understood until now.