Candidates, issues on November ballot

TALLAHASSEE (FBW)—Sixteen years ago, the Florida Legislature adopted its first bill requiring parental involvement in abortion only to see it and another bill overturned by the Florida Supreme Court and yet another bill vetoed by Gov. Lawton Chiles. Voters Nov. 2 will be asked to approve an amendment to the state Constitution permitting the Legislature to enact legislation requiring parents to be notified of a minor’s intention to have an abortion.

Amendment 1, “Parental Notification of a Minor’s Termination of Pregnancy,” is strongly supported by pro-life and pro-family organizations—including the Florida Baptist Convention, Florida Baptist Children’s Homes, Florida Right to Life, Florida Catholic Conference and Christian Coalition—and is vehemently opposed by pro-abortion and other liberal organizations, including Florida’s affiliates of Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the Florida American Civil Liberties Union.

While a wide majority of Floridians indicate they support Amendment 1, the measure has drawn the sharp rebuke and opposition of some of Florida’s leading daily newspapers.

The parental notification amendment is one of eight measures on the Nov. 2 ballot covering issues from slot machines in South Florida (for more information, see Oct. 14 news story, “Florida anti-gambling forces face ‘Goliath’ in Amendment 4 contest”) to medical and legal liability issues to minimum wage and high-speed rail.

The complete text of Amendment 1, as it will appear on the ballot, reads: “Proposing an amendment to the State Constitution to authorize the Legislature to require by general law for notification to a parent or guardian of a minor before the termination of the minor’s pregnancy. The amendment provides that the Legislature shall not limit or deny the privacy rights guaranteed to minors under the United States Supreme Court. The Legislature shall provide exceptions to such requirement for notification and shall create a process for judicial waiver of the requirement for notification.”

Amendment 1 was placed on the ballot by action of the Florida Legislature April 30 in response to a Florida Supreme Court ruling in July 2003 finding the 1999 Parental Notice Act violated the privacy right in the state’s constitution. During the legislative session, House Speaker Johnnie Byrd (R-Plant City) sponsored a broader constitutional amendment which would have protected parental rights beyond abortion, but leaders of the Senate opposed the measure. On the last day of the 2004 legislative session, legislators agreed to a compromise, HJR 1, which was co-sponsored by Byrd and Rep. Sandra Murman (R-Tampa).

Glen Owens, assistant executive director of the Florida Baptist Convention, told Florida Baptist Witness he believes “an overwhelming majority of Florida Baptists would oppose abortion and be in favor of” parental notification. Parental notification legislation is needed because “parents could bring their faith, wisdom and life experiences to bear in this situation so that the final decision would be, hopefully, a better decision,” he added.

“We believe in the sanctity of the family and we believe that God has entrusted the care of children to their parents,” Kathleen Hiers said. Hiers, director of sanctity of human life for Florida Baptist Children’s Homes, testified in favor of parental notification at a Sept. 2003 field hearing of the Florida House of Representatives Judiciary Committee.

“The parental notification amendment affirms the responsibility and right of parents to make heath care decisions on behalf of their children,” Hiers told the Witness.

Pro-abortion advocates see the amendment differently.

Represented by the Florida ACLU, Jeanne Baker and her husband, Walter Bradley, and their two daughters filed suit against Amendment 1, claiming the initiative would mislead voters and harm teenage girls. In September, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that the amendment could stay on the Nov. 2 ballot, but ordered the full text of the amendment be used in place of the so-called “ballot summary.” In response, the ACLU and Planned Parenthood vowed to defeat the amendment at the polls.

Stephanie Grutman, executive director of the Florida Association of Planned Parenthood Affiliates, said in a Sept. 2 news release that Amendment 1 “would put politics before the reality of teens’ lives.” Wendy Sears Grassi, director of public affairs for Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida, said in an Oct. 12 e-mail urging opposition to Amendment 1, “Planned Parenthood believes it is wrong to force a minor to confide in a parent,” adding that requiring parental notification could result in “back alley abortions.”

Owens told the Witness that opposition to the amendment “which deals with one of the most critical times in the life of a minor child and a baby shows how foolish we have become as a society.”

Pro-life and pro-abortion advocates both note that Florida is among the leading states in teen abortions.

More than 6,000 of Florida’s 88,000 abortions annually are performed on minors, according to estimates by Hiers, who advises about 75 pregnancy care centers for girls and women in crisis pregnancies. According to a Feb. 2004 report of the pro-abortion Alan Guttmacher Institute, Florida ranks seventh in the nation for teen abortion rate and ninth nationally for abortion ratio. Currently, 34 states require either parental consent or notification for minor abortions, according to the pro-abortion Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Another 10 states—including Florida—have parental involvement laws which have been enjoined by the courts and are therefore not in effect. Only six states have no law requiring parental involvement.

Hiers believes enacting a parental notification law will help to lower the number of teen abortions in Florida.

“Even without the law we strongly encourage and advocate for parental involvement in the lives of teens. With the law in place our ministries would have the additional opportunity of educating parents and teens together about abortion procedures, risks involved with abortion, both medical and surgical abortions, and life-affirming options available to the family,” Hiers said.

If voters approve Amendment 1—an Oct. 4-5 Mason-Dixon survey of 625 likely voters found 57 percent favored and 27 percent opposed the measure—the 2005 Florida Legislature would have to adopt a parental notification law in accordance with the amendment.

Florida Baptist Convention lobbyist Bill Bunkley—who was at the center of efforts in Tallahassee to get the amendment on the Nov. 2 ballot—warns that the work needed to pass Amendment 1 will have to be matched by pro-family and pro-life groups next spring during the legislative session.

“Citizens who support this are not off the hook when they awake on November 3 and realize that parental notification is hopefully passed,” Bunkley told the Witness Oct. 12. Amendment 1 requires that any parental notification law permit a judicial bypass for minors with family problems and yet-to-be-defined exceptions.

“Those same people hopefully will be prepared to gear-up after the first of the year and respond to calls from conservative legislators to let other legislators know as we begin a most heated battle over the exceptions that are mandated to be inserted into the enacting legislation,” Bunkley said.

Owens told the Witness that it’s time for Florida Baptists to act: “The family is being undermined and redefined by our society. Florida Baptists should take the opportunity to voice their informed decision, by their vote, on these vital issues that face us all.”