Jared E. Smith, a judge in the 13th Circuit Court, will fill one of the seats on the newly created 6th District Court of Appeal, the governor’s office announced on Tuesday. He will take office on January 1.

Smith had served as a circuit court judge in Hillsborough County since September 2019, but lost his bid for re-election in a primary in August.

The judge made headlines in January for refusing to let a 17-year-old get an abortion on the basis that her grades showed her “overall intelligence” was below average.

Smith ruled that the appellant, a junior in high school, was not “sufficiently mature to decide whether to terminate her pregnancy,” as required under Florida law.

The 17-year-old had gone to court to obtain a judicial waiver of parental consent for a termination, because her mother lived out of state and her father did not believe in abortion except in cases of rape. In Florida, a minor who wants to have an abortion without parental consent can do so if a court decides she is mature enough to take the decision on her own.

The teenager told the 13th Circuit Court that she was “way too young” to be a parent, didn’t have the income to take care of a child and that having a baby at her age would stop her pursuing her dream career after college.

The court heard that the 17-year-old had thought about alternatives to abortion—because of her religious beliefs—and had talked to the father of the baby, his relatives and her friends about the decision. She had also informed herself via Google about the procedure and its potential side-effects.

Despite this, Smith ruled that her grades—a 2.0 GPA, a C average, though the girl had testified that she was making “some Bs”—made her too immature to receive a judicial waiver of parental consent.

Smith said the fact that she had never had a car, a driver’s license or a driver’s permit showed a lack of emotional development and stability.

On January 18, his decision was reversed by a higher court, which questioned his assessment of the teenager’s maturity and emotional development. She was allowed to terminate her unwanted pregnancy after a 2-1 ruling in Florida’s 2nd District Court of Appeal.

The Tampa Bay Times, which had endorsed Smith for re-election, wrote in August that he had lost the primary “almost certainly” because of his ruling in the abortion case.

Smith is known to be an evangelical Christian, even though judicial races are non-partisan. He was one of 33 applicants and 18 finalists in the running to be appointed to the 6th District Court of Appeal, according to the Times.

He will serve with eight other judges who will hear appeals from trial courts in 10 counties in central and southwest Florida, not including Hillsborough.

Newsweek has contacted Gov. DeSantis’ office for comment.

The Republican governor has said he is “proud” of Florida’s new abortion law, which prohibits most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, with no exception in cases of rape or incest. The law took effect on July 1, but is being challenged in the courts. Florida previously allowed abortions up to 24 weeks.