## Facts

- Florida law required a pregnant minor to obtain parental consent for an abortion or secure a judicial waiver by proving maturity or that an abortion was in her best interests.
- T.W., an unmarried fifteen-year-old, petitioned for a judicial waiver, alleging maturity and reasons parental involvement would be harmful and burdensome.
- The trial court appointed counsel for T.W. and a guardian ad litem for the fetus, held an expedited hearing, upheld the statute’s constitutionality, and denied the waiver.
- The Fifth District Court of Appeal declared the parental-consent statute unconstitutional under the Florida Constitution.
- The case reached the Florida Supreme Court on review of the district court’s invalidation of the statute.

## Issues

1. Whether Florida’s parental-consent requirement for minors seeking abortions violates the Florida Constitution’s right of privacy.
2. Whether the statute survives strict scrutiny by serving a compelling state interest through the least intrusive means.
3. Whether the statute’s waiver standards and procedures create unconstitutional arbitrariness, including due process and vagueness problems.

## Decision

- The Florida Supreme Court approved the district court’s decision and held the parental-consent statute unconstitutional under the Florida Constitution.
- The court ruled that the statute infringed the fundamental privacy right protected by Article I, section 23.
- Applying strict scrutiny, the court concluded the asserted state interests were not advanced through a narrowly tailored, least-intrusive statutory scheme.
- The statute was invalidated in full.

## Legal Principles

- Article I, section 23 of the Florida Constitution establishes a broad, fundamental right of privacy applicable to “every natural person,” including minors.
- A pregnant person’s decision whether to continue or terminate a pregnancy falls within Florida’s constitutional privacy protection.
- Governmental intrusion into this privacy right is subject to strict scrutiny; the state must show a compelling interest pursued through the least intrusive means.
- A parental-involvement regime that places abortion access in a judicial waiver process lacking clear, objective standards and adequate safeguards risks arbitrary deprivation of a constitutional right and cannot satisfy strict scrutiny.

## Conclusion

Florida’s parental-consent statute for minors seeking abortions violated the Florida Constitution’s privacy clause because it burdened a minor’s fundamental abortion decision without a narrowly tailored, least-intrusive means of serving the state’s asserted interests; the statute was therefore invalid.


In re T.W., 551 So. 2d 1186 (Fla. 1989)