This past February, Republican House Representative Rachel Saunders Plakon filed HB 1505. This bill, known as the Parental Rights Bill, seeks to amend parental rights regarding parental consent. The bill would also remove exceptions that would allow minors to receive healthcare services.
Currently, FERPA allows parents to access their children’s healthcare information and see everything on record.
However, supporters of this bill argue that they are still unable to participate in the healthcare decisions of their children.
This includes Republican State Representative Michelle Salzman.
“I am a huge proponent for parental rights. I can share with you when my daughter was eleven and her therapists couldn’t tell me what was wrong with her until the point when I had to hospitalize her for anorexia years later because no one could tell me what was going on with my child,” Salzman stated.
This bill does face opposition from many who are concerned for the healthcare of abused children, such as Democratic State Representative LaVon Bracy Davis.
This bill would allow for an exception to parental consent in the event of an ongoing investigation with the parent. However, this does not protect vulnerable children who have not yet reported the abuse, Davis argued.
“They are not being protected. I know that there are all these professions who are mandatory reporters, but, who is making these children comfortable enough to report to the mandatory reporter?” Davis stated at the Tuesday meeting.
Another concern about the bill involves STI testing and healthcare among young people in Florida. Jon Harris Mauer, the public policy director of Equality for Florida, shares those concerns.
Under this bill, minors would be able to receive STI testing without the consent of their parents. However, they would be unable to seek treatment for a diagnosed STI without parental consent.
“Even in supportive households there are vulnerable young people who simply do not feel comfortable talking to a parent about STIs.” He explained. “These aren’t bad teens and an STI scare may be their first really big mistake. Don’t punish those young people by denying them healthcare.”
However, the committees are still considering Amendments to the bill. Salzman voted favorably on this bill but still wants to see an amendment to the bill.
“We’ve got to protect the system, children who are in a mental health or a substance abuse crisis when they are literally in moments of a life-threatening decision and they can’t get ahold of the parent in that moment. It will impede access to care.” Salzman explained.
This bill passed through the judiciary committee with 16 favorable votes. It still has two committee stops left before it can take action.
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