Florida’s state Supreme Court ruled on Monday that the state constitution does not protect abortion care ― declaring the state’s current 15-week ban constitutional and giving the go-ahead for a six-week ban to take effect in 30 days.
Pro-choice groups and abortion providers filed suit against the state in 2022 after Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed the 15-week ban into effect. The state Supreme Court, which DeSantis has stacked with conservative judges in recent years, agreed to hear arguments in the case last year but allowed the 15-week ban to stay in effect during that time.
Oral arguments in the lawsuit, brought by Planned Parenthood, the American Civil Liberties Union and other parties, were heard in September.
“Abortion has been a recognized right in Florida for decades,” Whitney White, an ACLU staff attorney, said during oral arguments. “There’s no basis in the text to exclude a decision so personal and so private as whether to continue a pregnancy.”
Last year, the state legislature passed a six-week abortion ban that includes exceptions for rape, incest or human trafficking, but only through the first 15 weeks of pregnancy. In order to get an abortion, the survivor “must provide a copy of a restraining order, police report, medical record, or other court order or documentation” to prove she was a victim of rape or incest, according to the bill.
The six-week ban also includes an exception for the life of the pregnant person if two physicians certify in writing that the woman will die if she continues the pregnancy. Several Democrats have criticized the two-physician requirement, however, citing a lack of doctors in rural areas that could hinder women from receiving lifesaving care.
The six-week abortion ban is now set to take effect a month from April 1. The legislation, which DeSantis signed in a closed ceremony in the dark of night, not only bans abortion after six weeks ― a point at which most people don’t even realize they’re pregnant ― but also prohibits telehealth for abortion care and allots $25 million annually to support deceptive anti-abortion pregnancy centers.
Plaintiffs in the suit argued that the privacy clause in Florida’s constitution provides broad protections for privacy rights, including the right to get an abortion. But the state argued that the clause, which was adopted in 1980 via voter referendum, was not explicitly meant to protect abortion care, but rather to cover information privacy in such matters as personal records.
“This is a 50-year reflection by our society, by our state, that people’s elected representatives believe that there’s a compelling interest in protecting human life. Why should we as a court not defer to that?” Chief Justice Carlos Muñiz asked White during oral arguments, implying that the protection to abortion care was not explicitly included in the privacy clause.
The 15-week abortion ban, which has stayed in effect during legal battles, includes no exceptions for rape or incest, and only allows exceptions if the pregnant person is at risk of serious injury or death when the fetus has a fatal abnormality. But as HuffPost’s Sara Boboltz has reported, lifesaving exceptions in abortion bans often don’t work in practice. And there have been multiple instances where Floridian women’s lives were put at risk because they were denied care.
A six-week abortion ban will likely devastate access not only for Floridians but for people seeking care across the Southeast. Florida became a safe haven for abortion care after the U.S. Supreme Court repealed federal abortion protections in 2022, leading nearly a dozen states, mostly in the Southeast, to enact near-total abortion bans. People in that part of the country who have the resources to travel have largely gone to Florida or North Carolina to get abortion care.
North Carolina enacted a 12-week abortion ban last year, and South Carolina a six-week ban. The last abortion safe haven in the region is now Virginia. Abortion bans like the ones in the Southeast disproportionately affect low-income people, women of color, people who live in rural areas, women with disabilities, and trans and gender-nonconforming people.
A coalition of pro-choice organizations has collected enough signatures to put a pro-choice amendment on the Florida ballot. It’s a huge milestone for reproductive rights advocates in the state who have been working on the initiative since 2022. The amendment seeks to guarantee access to abortion care up to the point of fetal viability, which is usually at around 24 weeks.
Florida’s Supreme Court, one of the most conservative in the country, is scheduled to make a decision on whether to approve the wording on April 1.
Voters have protected abortion in every state where it’s been on the ballot since 2022, including in red and purple states like Kentucky and Ohio.
“Floridians deserve the freedom to decide when and how to grow their families. They deserve the freedom to decide what’s best for their bodies and for their lives,” Dr. Robyn Schickler, an OB-GYN in central Florida and the chief medical officer at Planned Parenthood Southwest, said during a press conference after oral arguments in early September.
“Even if our courts fail us, Floridians have the opportunity to protect that freedom,” she said. “If approved by voters, a constitutional amendment ballot initiative would establish firm protections from government interference in our reproductive health decisions. As a physician and a Floridian, this amendment and the fire Floridians have brought to getting it on the ballot give me hope ― hope for my patients, for our communities and our futures.”
Need help? Visit RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Online Hotline or the National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s website.