With two critical decisions, the Florida Supreme Court ruled Monday first to uphold current abortion laws in Florida while, with a second decision, giving voters the choice to enshrine the right for abortions into the state Constitution at the General Election in November.
The court’s decision to uphold a 2022 15-week ban on abortion allows the 6-week ban on abortions signed into law in April 2023 by Gov. Ron DeSantis to now go into effect.
Over 910,000 validated signatures of registered voters — more than the officially needed 892,000, were tracked by the Florida Division of Elections to ensure the ballot amendment followed the tricky metrics required for such a proposal. Signatures collected and current opinion polls suggest that over 70% of Floridians of all walks of life and political and religious ideologies support the language in this constitutional amendment. The amendment requires a 60% voter approval on November 5th to pass.
The Supreme Court approved this language for the amendment:
No law shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient’s health, as determined by the patient’s healthcare provider. This amendment does not change the Legislature’s constitutional authority to require notification to a parent or guardian before a minor has an abortion.
In seven months, Florida voters can decide if they support constitutional rights for women’s reproductive health.
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