Florida Senate Cmte Defeats Abortion Bill Protecting Sexually Abused Teens 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
April 20, 2007
Tallahassee, FL (LifeNews.com) — A Florida Senate committee rejected an abortion bill that would help protect teenagers who are victims of statutory rape. That measure would require abortion practitioners to take DNA samples in cases when a teen younger than 16 is pregnant and seeks an abortion because she is a victim of statutory rape.
The legislation targets the recent development many states are seeing where sexually abused teenagers get abortions and abortion centers fail to properly inform authorities about the likelihood of rape or incest.
The Senate Children, Families and Elder Affairs Committee defeated the bill even though its sponsor, Senator Ronda Storms, is the chair of the panel.
Under the measure, (SB 2546) , abortion practitioners would be obligated to call police if they suspect a young teen has been a victim of sexual abuse.
They would asked to collect a tissue sample from the unborn child before the abortion and send it to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. State officials would then have a DNA sample to use to find and convict someone of sexual assault.
The report would have to be made within 24 hours about knowing of alleged abuse or a pregnancy resulting from it or the abortion business or medical facility in question would lose its license.
The bill received the opposition of the Florida chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, which has provided attorneys to help teenagers get around the state’s parental notification law and obtain secret abortions without their knowledge.
The group claimed the Storms measure was an invasion of the teen girl’s privacy even though it promotes their best interests in protecting them from sexual abuse.
Storms lowered the age of girl the bill applied to from 16 to 14 but the committee still defeated the measure.
Lillian Tamayo of the Florida Association of Planned Parenthood also opposed the DNA bill.
Related web sites:
Florida Catholic Conference – https://www.flacathconf.org
Florida Right to Life – https://www.frtl.org
Florida legislature – https://www.leg.state.fl.us
