However, current Florida law requires anyone under 18 who can't obtain parental consent for an abortion to go through a burdensome, potentially traumatizing, and highly arbitrary court process called "judicial bypass."

The judges deciding these cases make highly subjective determinations about a minor's maturity and interests and their family situations. As a result, many petitions are denied, forcing the pregnant minor to continue a pregnancy against their wishes, travel outside the state, or seek a way to manage abortion outside the health system.

About 200 children yearly are forced to seek a judicial bypass to end their pregnancy in Florida. These minors may be in foster care and without any legal guardian; pregnant due to incest or sexual abuse at home; or their parents may be away, incarcerated, or otherwise unavailable.

A recent article in the American Journal of Public Health estimated around 15% of minors who obtain abortions in Florida each year are forced to undergo this arbitrary process. In 2020 and 2021, judges denied more than 12% of their petitions.

Furthermore, a young person's ability to obtain a judicial waiver is significantly determined by the county in which they live. For example, in Hillsborough County judges denied half of all petitions filed there by minors in 2021.

We should not be forcing children, or anyone, to give birth. Youth deserve access to abortion healthcare.

Read the full report on Judicial Bypasses in Florida from Human Rights Watch: https://www.hrw.org/report/2023/02/09/access-denied/how-florida-judges-obstruct-young-peoples-ability-obtain-abortion

Use this form to contact the US Justice Department and ask their Reproductive Rights Task Force open an investigation into judicial bypass and youth abortion access in Florida as part of its mandate to examine state actions that impair the ability to seek reproductive care in states where abortion is legal.