TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The Florida Supreme Court upheld the state's 15-week abortion ban in a ruling handed down simultaneously with the clearing of an abortion amendment for the 2024 election.
With the 15-week ban approved, a trigger law from the state will ban abortions at six weeks starting one month from Monday's decision. The six-week ban passed in the 2023 legislative session was written so that it would not take effect until a month after the 2022 law was upheld.
In the case Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida vs. the State of Florida, Planned Parenthood had won a temporary injunction at a lower court level preventing the law from going into effect.
But the Florida Supreme Court reversed that decision.
"Based on our analysis finding no clear right to abortion embodied within the Privacy Clause, Planned Parenthood cannot overcome the presumption of constitutionality and is unable to demonstrate beyond a reasonable doubt that the 15-week ban is unconstitutional," the court's majority stated.
Read the full decision:
Planned Parenthood vs. Stat... by ABC Action News
The case was brought by abortion providers, who challenged the state's 15-week ban and argued privacy protections in the state constitution cover abortion.
While allowing the legislature to ban abortions at six weeks, the state Supreme Court also said the voters of the state would decide whether to protect the right to abortion up until 24 weeks when it cleared a constitutional amendment vote for the November ballot.
Nationwide, voters have approved abortion rights in states that have put it on the ballot.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, most Republican-controlled states have adopted bans or restrictions on abortions. Every ban has faced a court challenge.
Neighboring or nearby states like Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi are among the 14 states with bans now in place on abortion in stages of pregnancy, with limited exceptions.
