The House caved to Senate pressure by including a judicial waiver allowing girls, primarily in cases of rape or incest, to bypass parental notification.
TALLAHASSEE - Florida lawmakers late Friday sent a controversial measure to the November ballot that could require girls to obtain parental notification before getting an abortion.
A top priority of House Speaker Johnnie Byrd, voters will decide whether to authorize lawmakers to require the notification.
"This is principled leadership, this is the defining moment for us," said bill co-sponsor Rep. Sandra Murman, R-Tampa. "Parents deserve the right to go and vote this November on this issue. They need to know what our children are doing."
The bill had languished for two weeks because the House and Senate had passed conflicting versions of the parental notification amendment, HJR 1.
The Senate had allowed a vague exception for judges to allow some minors to get abortions without notifying their parents, primarily in case of rape or incest.
Senate President Jim King had warned that the measure could not get through the Senate without allowing some kind of judicial waiver. Proposed constitutional amendments need three-fifths majority to get on the ballot.
The House opposed any exceptions.
But about 11 p.m. Friday, the House acquiesced, passing the measure by a vote of 93-24, along party lines.
The Senate already has passed the bill, 27-13.
Some conservative Christian groups said they did not oppose some judicial exceptions.
"Judicial bypass has never been a problem with us," said Carole Griffin, a lobbyist for Eagle Forum of Florida, a conservative Christian group. "We've never tried to sidestep protecting the life of a mother."
The proposal marks the Legislature's third attempt to make it more difficult for minors to get abortions.
In 1989, the state Supreme Court struck down a law that required a minor to get a parent's consent to an abortion.
Last fall, the court ruled that a 1999 law requiring parental notification also violated the privacy rights of minors as guaranteed by the state Constitution.
Groups such as the Florida Association of Planned Parenthood Affiliates opposed both the House and Senate versions of parental notification, regardless of judicial exceptions.
And several House Democrats argued against the bill, one last time.
"It's pretty terrible that we're taking it up this late at the end of a very long session," said Rep. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach.
Lucy Morgan: 