Rubio voted for Florida's 'Scarlet Letter' adoption law to publicly shame unwed mothers

by Kerry Eleveld

Remember that 2001 Florida law we told you about, enacted on Jeb's watch, that forced unwed mothers seeking to put their child up for adoption to run ads in local newspapers disclosing details of their sexual histories? Marco Rubio voted for that crap deal when he was a state legislator at the time. Laura Bassett has the details:

The law, which passed with overwhelming majorities in the House and Senate, required unwed moms who wished to put their babies up for adoptions to post details about their recent sexual encounters in the newspaper in an attempt to contact the father, even if the woman was a victim of rape or incest. The purpose of the bill was to inform estranged biological fathers that their children were being adopted and give them the chance to intervene.

Rubio declined to comment for Bassett's story. At the time, then-governor Bush let the controversial bill become law without his signature. It became known as the "Scarlet Letter" law and was later found unconstitutional and repealed. But Bush had advocated for publicly shaming what he considered to be immoral behavior in his 1995 book, Profiles in Character. Talk about a misnomer.