FACT CHECK: Does Amendment 4 protect parental consent for minors seeking abortions?

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — How will Amendment 4, the proposed amendment aimed at enshrining abortion rights in Florida’s Constitution, affect Florida’s law requiring parents to consent before a minor has an abortion?

READ: What’s on Florida’s 2024 ballot?: A complete guide to the six proposed state amendments

You’ll see ads claiming it will overturn the law and others claiming it won’t.

Action News Jax dug into the legal history of the issue and the ballot language, to get to the bottom of it.

It can be hard to make an informed vote when you have ads like the ones running for and against Amendment 4.

“Amendment 4 eliminates Florida’s parental consent laws. Replacing consent, with notification,” said the narrator in a recent anti-Amendment 4 ad.

“In Florida, parental consent is required for a minor to have an abortion. That’s the law. And voting yes on 4 does not repeal that law,” the narrator in a pro-Amendment 4 ad claimed.

And political actors echo those claims.

“So, we are on record here stating that it does not change the piece. The consent piece,” said Keisha Mulfort with the ACLU during a pro-Amendment 4 virtual press conference in September.

“They are rolling back consent and saying just telling a parent that there’s an abortion is somehow the same as making the parent, as having them have decision-making power,” said Governor Ron DeSantis during a stop in Jacksonville last week.

READ: DeSantis escalates legal fight against Amendment 4 abortion ads, leveraging state resources in opposition

To understand how Amendment 4 might impact a parent’s ability to decide whether their child has an abortion, we have to go back to 1989.

That year, the Florida Supreme Court struck down the state’s parental consent law in a case known as IN RE: T.W.

Fast forward to 2004, and Florida voters approved a parental notification requirement, which is now in the state constitution.

Then in 2020, the Florida Legislature passed a new parental consent law, which to this day has not been challenged in court, despite that 1989 case standing as the most recent legal precedent.

“The answer is kind of a non-answer. It’s a grey area,” said UNF political science professor Sean Freeder.

Freeder noted the plain language of Amendment 4 protects parental notification, not consent.

That being said, Freeder explained Amendment 4 passing doesn’t guarantee anything regarding the fate of parental consent.

“It does not automatically go away,” said Freeder.

READ: ‘He’s staking his reputation on it:’ DeSantis hits the trail to campaign against abortion amendment

That’s because the state’s parental consent law would have to be challenged in court on the basis that it violates Amendment 4.

That case could be made based on the amendment’s language and the standing precedent of the 1989 decision.

But as Freeder pointed out, the conservative-leaning Florida Supreme Court has not been afraid to overturn precedent, especially on the issue of abortion.

“If Amendment 4 were to win, notification would be sparred for sure. Consent would be something the courts would have to look at,” said Freeder.

READ: DeSantis using state money, time and his power to fight abortion rights measure

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