Florida Abortion Ban (Photo by Jason Connolly / AFP) (Photo by JASON CONNOLLY/AFP via Getty Images)
As the recent Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade continues to be a hot topic of conversation, there has been a major development as it relates to abortion in the state of Florida.
In a recent development, a judge has officially blocked the 15-week abortion ban in Florida from going into effect.
Huff Post reports that Florida Circuit Judge John Cooper has blocked the state’s previously passed 15-week abortion ban just 24 hours before it was set to go into effect.
Speaking about his reasoning for blocking the Florida abortion ban, Judge Cooper said,
“The statute in section House Bill 5 is unconstitutional in that it violates the privacy provision of the Florida constitution. Florida passed into its constitution an explicit right to privacy that is not contained in the U.S. Constitution. The Florida Supreme Court has determined in its words, ‘Florida’s privacy provision is clearly implicated in a woman’s decision of whether or not to continue her pregnancy.’”
Judge Cooper continued, adding a bit more context to what his ruling actually means.
“In other words, on the issue of abortion, the Florida Supreme Court has decided that women have a privacy right under the state constitution to not have that right impacted up to 24 weeks at least.”
It should also be noted that the temporary injunction will block the ban from taking effect before the next hearing is set, which was previously set for July 1st.
You’ll recall that the initial Florida 15-week abortion ban was extremely strict and didn’t even make exceptions for pregnancies caused by rape, incest, or human trafficking. The only exceptions were for mothers at risk of serious injury or death, or if the fetus had a fatal abnormality. Additionally, the abortion ban not only made it illegal to provide abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy but also threatened physicians with a five-year prison sentence and a $10,000 fine.
Under the current law, Florida allows abortions through the first trimester or up to 24 weeks.
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