TALLAHASSEE — Florida voters will decide in November whether abortion rights should be guaranteed in the constitution, the state’s Supreme Court ruled Monday, but the court also approved a new abortion ban at 6 weeks that will begin in 30 days in a separate case.
The second abortion ruling, which wasn’t expected Monday, upheld the 15-week ban already in place and will allow the 6-week ban approved in 2023 by Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Republican Legislature to take effect in 30 days. The 6-1 decision overturned a long-standing precedent by the Florida Supreme Court that the right to an abortion was enshrined in the constitution’s privacy clause.
Editorial: Court ruling gives voters the chance to speak out on abortion
“The decision is an affront to this state’s tradition of embracing a broad scope of the right of privacy,” said Justice Jorge LaBarga, who cast the sole dissenting vote.
The seemingly contradictory rulings put Florida for now into the realm of other Deep South states that have largely banned almost all abortions.
The Florida ballot amendment, approved by a 4-3 vote, would change that if it gets at least 60% of the vote. It calls for access to abortions up to the viability of the fetus, which scientists and the medical community have long placed at about 24 weeks, near the end of the second trimester.
The amendment summary, in part, states, “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.”
Read the ruling: Florida Supreme Court decision on abortion amendment
Florida currently allows women to get abortions past 15 weeks only in instances of rape, incest, life-threatening conditions and fatal fetal abnormalities. Medical professionals have previously told the Orlando Sentinel that the law is difficult to interpret, and there have been instances where women were denied abortions despite threats to their health.
Lauren Brenzel, director of the Yes On 4 campaign to get abortion on the ballot, cheered the court’s decision to allow the amendment during a Monday press conference.
“Today the Florida Supreme Court confirmed what we’ve known all along. Amendment four clearly satisfies the requirements for placement on the ballot,” Brenzel said. “We will be using every moment that we can to make sure the Floridians know that they have the chance to vote yes on 4 and a chance to stop the harmful policies that have been enacted in Tallahassee.”
Brenzel decried the 6-week ban, saying it would have ripple effects across the entire Southeast. Once Florida’s ban takes effect, North Carolina will be the closest state that offers abortions past 6 weeks.
“This is the largest single loss of care that we’ve seen since the overturn of Roe v. Wade, and we can’t fully understand what the impact will be yet,” Brenzel said. “[Florida is] surrounded by states that already have total or near total bans in effect, meaning that even for patients who need to access medically necessary abortion, the road to do so will be hard.”
Mat Staver, head of the anti-abortion Liberty Counsel, claimed if passed the amendment would “wipe out every law regulating abortion. Other than parental notification, no law will survive, not even health and safety regulations. We must mobilize Floridians to vote ‘No’ on this deceptive amendment.”
The Supreme Court’s only role on the abortion amendment initiative was to decide if the wording was clear and unambiguous.
Attorney General Ashley Moody argued that the wording was too vague for voters to understand what they are voting on. Supporters of the amendment said the language was clear.
Floridians Protecting Freedom submitted nearly 1 million signatures to put the issue on the November ballot.
The court’s opinion could drive turnout in both parties, said Aubrey Jewett, a political science professor at the University of Central Florida.
“It’s expected to increase turnout among Democrats,” Jewett said. “Polls show a strong majority of Floridians feel very passionately about the issue and want the opportunity to vote on it. Republicans have a tendency to show up either way.”
Given the conservative makeup of the Supreme Court, Bob Jarvis, a law professor at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, said he was “stunned they allowed the abortion amendment to go on the ballot.”
Five of the seven justices were appointed by DeSantis.
The decision paves the way for voters to make abortion a right in Florida, which “literally undoes all the work the Supreme Court did in their opinion in the Planned Parenthood case,” which upheld the current 15-week ban and let the 6-week ban take effect.
If voters approve the amendment, it will negate the state law the courts just upheld, he said.
“If voters want to undo this law, it’s their right,” Jarvis said. “It’s a good day for democracy because voters should have the final say.”
Florida has long had among the laxest abortion restrictions in the Southeast, a status solidified since the Roe ruling. As a result, Florida has become a destination for women seeking to end their pregnancies. Of 78,250 recorded abortions last year, over 7,000 were for out-of-state residents. In 2020, about 4,000 patients were from out-of-state.
Voters in seven states — California, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, Ohio and Vermont — have sided with abortion rights supporters on ballot measures, according to the Associated Press.
