Florida six-week abortion ban to start as state Supreme Court clears ballot measure

Abortion will officially be on the ballot in Florida this fall after the state's Supreme Court issued one ruling approving a ballot measure that could expand access to the procedure but another that paves the way for a strict six-week ban.

The ballot measure would guarantee abortion access through viability, often 24 weeks of pregnancy. With this, Floridians have the chance to essentially vote on whether to reinstate what was once the federal standard set by Roe v. Wade before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the landmark case in 2022.

The decision Monday in Florida also gives abortion access advocates the chance to add to their list of state-level victories.

Current Florida law allows abortions through 15 weeks of pregnancy, which the state Supreme Court rejected challenges against in a separate ruling Monday. The court did not agree with arguments that Florida's privacy protections extended to guard abortion rights.

Their decision allows another state law, backed by Republicans including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, to go into effect in 30 days and drop the limit to six weeks.

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If passed, the recently approved ballot measure would override these laws and limits.

Republican officials in Florida have long fought for abortion restrictions in the state, such as DeSantis' signature six-week ban.

But at the center of the state Supreme Court's ballot measure decision this week was the constitutional amendment's language, which opponents argued was too complicated for voters to understand. The court heard arguments in early February and signaled support for the measure's language at that time.

"The people of Florida aren’t stupid. They can figure it out," Chief Justice Carlos Muñiz, a DeSantis appointee, said then.

Activists fighting to expand abortion rights were in "unchartered territory" heading into Monday, Anna Hochkammer, executive director of Florida Women’s Freedom Coalition, said in a virtual town hall last week. Though the state's highest court typically releases its opinions on Thursdays at 11 a.m., it waited until its April 1 deadline, set by Florida's Constitution, to issue this decision.

Hochkammer said Thursday that it's "full steam ahead" for abortion rights supporters.

"This thing is probably the most compelling political issue in America right now," Hochkammer said in the town hall.

"The Dobbs decision told the states that it was their job to present this to voters so that voters can decide, and Florida's going to do that in November," she said, referring to the case that overturned Roe v. Wade. "And we're going to win."