In re Doe
| Decision Date | 13 May 2021 |
| Docket Number | Case No. 2D21-1333 |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
| Parties | IN RE Petition of Jane DOE for a Judicial Waiver of Parental Notice of Termination of Pregnancy. Jane Doe, Appellant |
Rinky S. Parwani of Parwani Law, P.A., Tampa, for Appellant.
Jane Doe,1 a minor, petitioned the circuit court for a waiver of parental notice of and consent for termination of pregnancy. See § 390.01114, Fla. Stat. (2020) (). The circuit court dismissed the petition, finding that she had not shown sufficient maturity to decide whether to terminate her pregnancy or that the termination was in her best interest. See § 390.01114(6)(c)-(d). We must reverse.
A minor seeking judicial waiver must prove, by clear and convincing evidence, that she is mature enough to decide whether to terminate her pregnancy or that it is not in her best interest to notify a parent or guardian and obtain consent for the termination. See id.; In re Doe, 153 So. 3d 925, 926 (Fla. 2d DCA 2014) ; In re Doe, 113 So. 3d 882, 888 (Fla. 2d DCA 2012) ; In re Doe, 67 So. 3d 268, 268 (Fla. 2d DCA 2011). "The minor need not possess the same maturity as an adult, but she must demonstrate that she is sufficiently mature to make this important decision." In re Doe, 153 So. 3d at 926 ; see also In re Doe, 113 So. 3d at 888.
Jane Doe is a sixteen-year-old high school student with a 3.5 grade point average who plans to attend college. She and her five-year-old brother live with her great aunt, who is her guardian. There are other children of various ages in the home, and Doe is regularly left in charge of the other children, including her six-month-old cousin, while her great aunt and the aunt's husband go out or spend weekends out of town. She explained that her pregnancy would be detrimental to her future plans.2 She also testified that her guardian, with whom she has resided since she was ten or eleven years old, would throw her out of the house if she learned of the pregnancy. She was confident this would happen because the guardian had thrown her older sister out at the age of seventeen when she became pregnant. Because her great aunt had made it clear that she would not be sympathetic to Doe's plight, Doe felt that she could not approach her great aunt, but she had discussed her situation with an adult sister and another aunt. She testified that both were supportive and would assist her in obtaining the abortion and with any medical care she might need. She testified she had researched what was involved in having the abortion and was aware of potential complications.
Section 390.01114(6)(c)(1) provides a list of factors a trial court must consider when determining whether a minor is sufficiently mature. These factors include the minor's:
The circuit court's order must include "factual findings and legal conclusions relating to the maturity of the minor" in view of these specific factors. § 390.01114(6)(e)(2).
The circuit court found that Doe was of average or above average intelligence, that she was stable and demonstrated appropriate emotional development for her age. The court noted that Doe had shown the ability to accept responsibility by her academic performance, her participation in school volleyball, and her babysitting responsibilities. The court found that Doe understood that a termination of the pregnancy could result in medical complications or affect her ability to have children in the future. The court also noted that Doe was confident that she would be able to turn to her older sister and another aunt in the event of a medical emergency.3
The circuit court's findings all point to Doe's maturity, but the court took issue with what it characterized as Doe's shifting testimony regarding her great aunt's potential response to the pregnancy. This is not supported by the record. Doe was consistent in her testimony that her great aunt would kick her out of the house if she learned of the pregnancy.4 In concluding the circuit court's finding in this regard is supported by the record, the dissent makes the same error the trial court did – it fails to distinguish between when Doe is explaining her great aunt's reaction to learning she was pregnant versus her reaction to notice, or lack thereof, regarding an abortion.
The court was also influenced by its belief that Doe had changed her testimony regarding possible long-term consequences of having an abortion. Again, this is unsupported by the record. The court believed that Doe had initially testified she wanted children in the future and then later said she did not want children. However, Doe never testified she wanted children in the future. In answer to a question about possible complications of the abortion, she testified that she knew it could present a risk to her ability to have children in the future if she ever found the right partner and decided she wanted children. Aside from these two concerns, every factor the circuit court evaluated pointed to Doe's maturity.
Under section 390.01114(6) a minor who meets her burden of proof is entitled to an order authorizing her to consent to the abortion. As this court has explained previously, "the circuit court's discretion is limited in the sense it must be exercised in a manner consistent with the applicable statute." Doe, 113 So. 3d at 889 ; see also Doe, 153 So. 3d at 926 ( . Because the statutory factors the circuit court addressed demonstrate the minor met her burden of proof, yet the circuit court denied the petition for reasons not supported by the record, we conclude the circuit court abused its discretion.
For these reasons, we reverse the circuit court's order,5 and Doe's petition for judicial waiver of the parental notification and consent required by section 390.01114 is granted. The clerk shall furnish Doe's counsel with a certified copy of this decision for immediate delivery to Doe so that she can deliver it to her physician. See Fla. R. App. P. 9.147. This court's mandate shall issue simultaneously with this opinion, and no rehearing motion shall be entertained.
Reversed.
These cases are always painful and tragic and require the utmost care, soul searching, and scrutiny. This one especially.
In this case, the unrebutted testimony showed that when Doe was born, Doe was immediately placed with her grandmother. Doe's mother had given birth to nine children, all of whom had been removed from her mother and placed in the "system." Her father has been incarcerated since she was five years old and remains so. Doe lived with her grandmother until age ten, when her grandmother died. After Doe's grandmother passed away, Doe was placed with her great aunt as a placement of apparent last resort.
Doe testified that her great aunt was indifferent to her from the beginning and has remained so such that there is no supportive and nurturing relationship between them. Her great aunt treats her as domestic help and a conscripted babysitter for the other children in the house so that her great aunt and her husband can engage in frequent recreational pursuits. Her great aunt treats Doe and Doe's biological brother differently than she treats her own grandchildren. Doe's great aunt has never been there for her and has never really cared. When asked what life is like with her great aunt, Doe said that she cries every day. Doe cannot talk to her great aunt, and Doe stays in her room when she is not doing her chores or caring for her little cousins. Doe said that her great aunt judges her, that her great aunt "goes off on" Doe and her brother, and that she yells at Doe and tears her down. Her great aunt does not sit down and talk with her like her great aunt does with the other children.
Doe's great aunt has made it abundantly clear, and has been consistent in this position, that she will not accept a baby into her household. She previously expelled Doe's older sister from her household when the sister became pregnant. Doe testified that her great aunt would make Doe "handle that on [her] own." Doe testified that she does not have "the type of support to give to a baby as the baby would need" and she would have nowhere to go. Doe believes that her great aunt would become angry and kick Doe out of the house if she found out Doe was pregnant, even if the great aunt knew that Doe planned to terminate the pregnancy.
Doe testified that the boy who impregnated her "didn't want to have anything to do with [her] after he found out that [she] was pregnant." He even gave her suggestions as to how she could "kill the baby." Except for Doe's twenty-five-year-old sister and another aunt, Doe has no one to look to for emotional support. She has confided to these two other women her predicament and her intentions in handling her situation. They said they would support Doe in whatever she decided to do.
Doe said that she does not want children in the future. This is no surprise, given her mother's track record of having nine children all of whom were removed from her as well as her experience in the...
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...decision regarding the termination of her pregnancy." Id. (citing In re Jane Doe 06–A , 932 So. 2d at 500 ); see also In re Doe , 319 So. 3d 184, 185 (Fla. 2d DCA 2021) ("The minor need not possess the same maturity as an adult, but she must demonstrate that she is sufficiently mature to ma......