WEST PALM BEACH -- A Palm Beach County judge struck down a state law requiring abortion doctors to discuss with potential patients the possibility of bringing pregnancy to full term and other issues.

Circuit Judge Ronald Alvarez threw out the Women's Right-to-Know Act, which hasn't been enforced since its passage in 1997 because of a temporary block issued by an appeals court in 1998.

The law, favored by antiabortion activists, required doctors to tell women the nature and risks of an abortion "that a reasonable patient would consider material" to making a decision. That includes the age of the fetus and the medical risk of taking the pregnancy to term. Doctors who don't comply would face criminal penalties.

In his Friday decision, Alvarez wrote that the law is "constitutionally impermissible" because it infringes on a woman's ability "to receive her physician's opinion as to what is best for her considering her particular circumstances."

The Presidential Women's Center of West Palm Beach sued the Florida Department of Health, which was charged with enforcing the law, and was granted the temporary block in 1998.

The state plans to appeal.

Judges rejects monitor for Everglades cleanup

MIAMI -- A federal judge refused on Tuesday to appoint a special overseer to closely monitor state and federal compliance with Everglades cleanup requirements.

U.S. District Judge William Hoeveler gave government attorneys a month to respond to other requests by Miccosukee Indians and environmentalists for enforcement of a 1992 lawsuit settlement.

The tribe claims government agencies are dragging their feet on pollution control and violating terms of the settlement intended to protect the Everglades from ecology-harming phosphorus.

Phosphorus reduction rules took effect in 1999 at the Loxahatchee refuge in western Palm Beach County and will extend to Everglades National Park in October 2003 and December 2006.

The tribe claims Loxahatchee is breaking the rules now and that the park deadlines will be missed by the South Florida Water Management District.

Gore works the phones for class size measure

MIAMI -- Former Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore worked the phones Tuesday to build support for the class size initiative on the November ballot, saying spending on education should be Florida's top priority.

The former vice president spoke with about a half-dozen voters by telephone from a campaign calling center. He said reducing classroom size was necessary for the state's well-being.

Gore appeared at the call center with state Sen. Kendrick Meek, D-Miami, the primary legislator supporting the class size initiative.

"He got us at least about four or five votes," Meek said. "As you know, in this state that's good for at least two."

Study: Malpractice suits not a problem in Florida

FORT LAUDERDALE -- About one in six medical injuries reported by hospitals in Florida in the late 1990s brought a malpractice claim, according to a study released Tuesday by Public Citizen, which is urging medical malpractice reform nationwide.

The Washington-based consumer rights group released the study to support its contention that malpractice insurance rates have risen primarily due to recent "major stock market losses" affecting the entire economy, not to rising medical malpractice lawsuits and awards. It opposes proposals in legislatures and Congress to put caps on malpractice awards.

Legal actions came from 3,177 of the 19,885 incidents reported in 1996-99, according to statistics provided by the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration.

Just 6 percent, or 2,674, of Florida's 44,747 doctors have prompted half the state's medical malpractice reports since 1990, according to figures the study attributed to the National Practitioner Data Bank.

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Lucy Morgan

From the Times state desk