State v. Presidential Women's Center

Summary

The Supreme Court of Florida reviewed a decision holding provisions of Florida's Woman's Right to Know Act unconstitutional. The court construed the informed-consent requirements to apply to the individual patient's circumstances and to medical risks בלבד, held section 390.0111(3)(a)(1) constitutional under those constructions, reversed the Fourth District Court of Appeal, vacated its attorney-fee award, and remanded for further proceedings.

Holdings

1. The reasonable-patient standard refers to a reasonable patient under the individual circumstances of the patient presenting for the procedure, not to a generalized hypothetical patient. Construed in that manner, the provision is not unconstitutionally vague.
2. The word risks in the challenged provision refers exclusively to medical risks associated with terminating or continuing the pregnancy, not social, economic, or other nonmedical risks.
3. Section 390.0111(3)(a)(1), as construed by the court, is not unconstitutional. The lower courts erred in declaring the provision unconstitutional on vagueness grounds, and the court did not invalidate the provision under the constitutional privacy challenge.

Questions Presented

1. Whether section 390.0111(3)(a)(1), Florida Statutes, is unconstitutionally vague because of its reasonable-patient standard.
2. Whether the provision is unconstitutionally vague because the term risks could be read to include nonmedical risks.
3. Whether the provision violates constitutional privacy rights by requiring informed consent before termination of pregnancy.
4. Whether the Fourth District's attorney-fee award should stand after reversal of the summary judgment.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded