State v. WOMEN'S HEALTH AND COUNSELING SERVICES, INC.
Decision Date | 09 February 2001 |
Docket Number | No. 1D00-1983, No. 1D00-2106. |
Citation | 852 So.2d 254 |
Parties | STATE of Florida, Florida Department of Health, Robert Brooks M.D., in his official capacity as Secretary of the Florida Department of Health, The Agency for Health Care Administration, and Ruben J. King-Shaw, Jr., in his official capacity as Director of the Agency for Health Care Administration, Appellants, v. NORTH FLORIDA WOMEN'S HEALTH AND COUNSELING SERVICES, INC., et al., Appellees. Florida Board of Medicine, John W. Glotfelty, in his official capacity as Chairperson of the Florida Board of Medicine, and the Florida Board of Osteopathic Medicine, Bill Buckhalt, in his official capacity as Director of the Florida Board of Osteopathic Medicine, Appellants, v. North Florida Women's Health and Counseling Services, Inc., et al., Appellees. |
Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Kenneth W. Sukhia, of Fowler, White, Gillen, Boggs, Villareal & Banker, P.A., Tallahassee, for Appellants State of Florida, Department of Health, Robert Brooks, M.D., The Agency for Health Care Administration, and Ruben J. King-Shaw, Jr.
Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General; John J. Rimes, III, Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee, for Appellants Florida Board of Medicine, John W. Glotfelty, and the Florida Board of Osteopathic Medicine, Bill Buckhalt.
Bebe J. Anderson and Julie Rikelman of The Center for Reproductive Law & Policy, and Charlene Miller Carres, Tallahassee, for all Appellees; and Dara Klassel of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc, New York, NY, for Appellees Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida and Planned Parenthood of Northeast Florida.
Stephen C. Emmanuel and John R. Beranek of Ausley & McMullen, Tallahassee, and Thomas A. Horkan, Jr., and Victoria H. Pflug, Tallahassee, for Amicus Curiae Florida Catholic Conference.
The Department of Health, the Board of Medicine, the Board of Osteopathic Medicine and the Agency for Health Care Administration (the State) appeal a final judgment granting permanent injunction. The injunction reflects the circuit court's view that, however applied, the Parental Notice of Abortion Act, section 390.01115, Florida Statutes (1999) (the Act), violates the Right to Privacy secured by the Florida Constitution. See Art. I, § 23, Fla. Const. While we do not question the premise that "freedom of choice concerning abortion extends to minors," In re T.W., 551 So.2d 1186, 1193 (Fla.1989), we conclude that the Act's requirement that a reasonable effort be made to inform at least one parent or legal guardian that a minor child will undergo surgical procedures to terminate a pregnancy does not render the Act unconstitutional on its face. Accordingly, we reverse.
The Act provides that a physician must, in most circumstances, notify a parent or legal guardian at least forty-eight hours before terminating a minor's pregnancy.
§ 390.01115(3), Fla. Stat. (1999). Subsection 4 of the Act creates an expedited judicial bypass procedure under which notice to a parent or guardian may be dispensed with in specified circumstances:
§ 390.01115(4), Fla.Stat. (1999). The Act was signed into law on June 11, 1999. But for the present litigation, the Act would have been in effect since July 1, 1999. See Ch. 99-322, § 3, at 3422, Laws of Fla. See also Amendments to the Fla. Rules of Civil Procedure, 756 So.2d 27, 27 (Fla. 1999).
Seeking to enjoin enforcement of the Act, physicians who perform abortions, clinics providing abortion services, and women's rights organizations with minor female members filed a complaint (since amended) in circuit court even before the Act was slated to take effect. The plaintiffs also sought a declaratory judgment that the Act was unconstitutional because it violated pregnant minors' constitutional rights to privacy, of equal protection, and of due process, and because it violated abortion providers' due process rights. After a hearing, the circuit court granted the plaintiffs' motion for a temporary injunction on July 27, 1999. The temporary injunction remained in place until the permanent injunction now before us superseded it.
The State appealed first the temporary, then the permanent, injunction. During the pendency of the appeal of the temporary injunction, we relinquished jurisdiction, once the trial on the merits had concluded, so the circuit court could enter final judgment. See generally Fla. R.App.P. 9.130(f). On May 12, 2000, entry of the final judgment granting permanent injunction mooted the State's then pending appeal of the temporary injunction. In the final judgment granting permanent injunction, which we now have for review, the circuit court concluded that, while the Act did not violate equal protection or due process guarantees, state or federal, it did impermissibly infringe on the Right to Privacy guaranteed by the Florida Constitution. See Art. I, § 23, Fla. Const.
Ordinarily only a person or family whose privacy rights are infringed or threatened has standing to assert the rights. See Sieniarecki v. State, 756 So.2d 68, 76 (Fla.2000)
. But a "recognized exception to [the rule against parties asserting the privacy rights of others] applies where enforcement of a challenged restriction would adversely affect the rights of non-parties, and there is no effective avenue for them to preserve their rights themselves." Sieniarecki, 756 So.2d at 76 n. 3. See Eisenstadt v. Baird, 405 U.S. 438, 446, 92 S.Ct....
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