By Regan McCarthy
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wfsu/local-wfsu-967322.mp3
Tallahassee, FL – Women in Florida seeking an abortion could soon have to sign a document formally declining to review a mandated ultrasound before the procedure. Regan McCarthy reports the measure comes with a group of rules regulating abortion on its way to the governor's desk.
House bill 1127 requires women to certify in writing their decision not to see or hear a description of an ultrasound of their baby before undergoing an abortion. Regardless, the measure requires an ultrasound be performed. GOP Senator Ronda Storms of Brandon says the bill makes exceptions for women in extreme cases. Women who are victims of rape, for example, may opt not to review their ultrasound without a written declaration.
The bill is a measure, according to Storms who introduced the bill, to ensure a woman has the opportunity to view her ultrasound before submitting to an abortion in an effort to help her make an "informed decision." Republican Senator Nancy Detert of Venice says she finds the bill insulting.
"As a person who is anatomically equipped to ever have to make this decision. I personally resent legislation that acts like I'm too stupid to confer with my own doctor on what I should do."
Detert made her comments in support of Senator Evelyn Lynn of Daytona Beach who says this issue is not one on which the legislature should be ruling.
"I came up here this year not to tell you what to do with your bodies, not to tell you what your religious beliefs should be, not to tell you what your sense of values should be. You know why I really came up here this year? I came up here to help people put food on their tables. I came up here to get people jobs "
Lynn says she understands the issue is important to some individuals.
"And that's fine and you've got to protect those values for yourself and your families. I know how Senator Storms is raising her child."
But Lynn, a Republican, says that decision is not up to her and should not be up to the government. Lynn says she will vote no on any abortion bill hitting the Senate floor.
The bill passed with what Democratic Senator Chris Smith of Oakland Park called "intellectual gymnastics".
The Senate also considered a bill tightening rules that would let a minor seek judicial permission to obtain an abortion without a parent's knowledge. The measure limits a minor to being heard before a judge presiding in her county's circuit.
Some worry the measure would prevent young women in rural counties from seeking a judge's council for fear their anonymity could be compromised. Senator Gwen Margolis, a Democrat, says in certain cases not being able keep her identity a secret could be detrimental to a young woman.
"We live in the real world. In the real world unfortunately some of these young women have been impregnated by their brothers or their father or their step-father or their mother's boyfriend I can go on and on and on. That's why they have to go to court."
Democratic Senator Nan Rich of Sunrise echoes Margolis' concern saying some families are not understanding. She says she could conceive of a situation in which a family who finds out a young girl is pregnant might beat or even kill the girl. But Republican Senator Alan Hays who introduced the bill says that's not a reason to look for judicial permission to get an abortion in a court outside a person's home-town circuit.
"Just because a young person has problems at home is no reason to allow them to be taken all across the state to have major surgery."
Hays, of Umatilla, says the bill is needed to protect children from undue pressure by adults who might otherwise take the child "judge shopping."
"I find it totally repulsive that we would allow an adult to take one of these 13 or 14 year old young ladies and drive her from Crestview to Fernandina Beach to get a judge to okay an abortion."
Senator Rich Says that's simply not happening. Rich says about 44-thousand teens become pregnant in Florida each year. She says about 13-thousand pregnancies in the state end in abortion, but she points out that only about 400 teens seek judicial review. The process is being used, she says, only when it's needed.
The bill also extends the time frame in which a judge is required to rule on such a case and alters the method through which a minor's parents must be informed of an abortion procedure specifying a doctor must mail the parents a notice. Both measures are now awaiting the governor's signature.