The Florida Supreme Court on Monday cleared the way to ban abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, before many women know they are pregnant, while also giving voters a chance to remove restrictions in November and restore abortion rights in most cases.
The court, reconstituted by former presidential candidate and Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, ruled by a 6-1 vote to uphold the state's ban on most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, meaning the six-week ban could take effect soon. But in a separate ruling, the court allowed a ballot measure on abortion rights to go to voters.
Most abortions are performed before 15 weeks, so the current ban does not affect most people seeking an abortion. But the six-week ban is likely to have a significant impact on women seeking abortions in Florida and throughout the South.
DeSantis, who signed the 15-week ban in 2022, appointed five of the court's seven justices.
The lawsuit challenging the ban has been filed by Planned Parenthood, the American Civil Liberties Union and others. They said the Florida Constitution's unique privacy clause for more than 40 years has explicitly protected the right to abortion in the state and should remain in place.
However, when the privacy provision was adopted by voter referendum in 1980, few people understood that it would cover abortion, state attorneys said. They told the justices that the provision was mainly intended to cover “privacy of information” such as personal records and not abortion.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, most Republican-controlled states have adopted bans or restrictions on abortions. Each ban faced a court challenge.
A survey of abortion providers conducted for Planned Parenthood, which advocates for access to abortion, found that Florida saw the second-largest increase in the total number of abortions provided since Roe v. Wade was overturned. More than 7,700 women from other states will have abortions in Florida in 2023, state data show.
The neighboring or nearby states of Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi are among the 14 states that have now imposed bans on mid-term abortion, with limited exceptions. Georgia and South Carolina prohibit this as soon as cardiac activity is detected, which is generally considered about six weeks after conception.
Farrington writes for the Associated Press. AP writers Jeff Mulvihill in Cherry Hill, New Jersey; Terry Spencer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Mike Schneider in Orlando, Florida; Curt Anderson in St. Petersburg, Florida; and David Fisher in Miami contributed to this report.
