A pregnant 16-year-old in north Florida may be forced to give birth after an appeals court ruled on Monday that is not “mature” enough to get an abortion. According to the ruling, the teen initially went to an Escambia County circuit judge last week when she was ten weeks pregnant and said she “is not ready to have a baby,” doesn’t have a job, is “still in school,” and the father is unable to help her. In Florida, people under 18 need written consent from a parent or legal guardian to have an abortion. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed that requirement into law in June 2020. The young woman does not have parents according to the ruling and is asking the court to bypass the requirement. An opinion from one of the appellate judges also mentions that the teen’s “guardian is fine with what wants to do.”The initial judge denied her request last week, and the three judges on the appellate court sided with the first judge on Monday. Michele Herzog is the director of Pro Life Action Ministries Central Florida.As a staunch abortion rights opponent, she said she absolutely supports the Florida court’s decision. “They’re protecting children. They’re protecting the 16-year-old and they’re protecting the child in the womb,” Herzog said. “Abortion is not good for any woman.”Herzog calls abortions “crimes against humanity” and said she wants them completely banned in Florida. “If a teenager is going to school, they have to get parental consent to even take an aspirin. They are not considered mature enough to take an aspirin on their own. So in my opinion, they are certainly not mature enough to have an abortion,” she said. On Wednesday afternoon, the Florida Democrats voiced their outrage about the court’s ruling for the pregnant teenager. “So she’s not mature enough to say, ‘I’m not ready to parent.’ But apparently, she’s mature enough to be forced to give birth. And that is the anti-freedom reality of Florida,” said Democratic state Rep. Anna Eskamani. Eskamani said this marks the latest move in a state where Republicans are further restricting reproductive rights. In April, DeSantis signed a 15-week abortion ban into law. And earlier this month, he suspended a state attorney who vowed he would not criminalize women who seek abortions. “Our governor calls us the freest state in the union, and yet we are taking away the freedoms of our constituents through these policies,” Eskamani said. “Gov. Ron DeSantis has been so hesitant and shy and even scared to talk about his platform on abortion.”WESH 2 News reached out to the governor’s office for his response but has not heard back. Meanwhile, this may not be the end for the teen’s push to get an abortion.In a partial dissenting opinion, one of the appellate judges noted that the initial trial court “‘may re-evaluate its decision’ in a…
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