Florida Supreme Court cites “human error” in accidental release of ruling in abortion case
In a surprise move the Florida Supreme Court has said an order issued Wednesday that rejected abortion clinics’ request to place the state’s 15-week abortion ban back on hold was put out by mistake.
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Action News Jax was the first to report on the ruling and the subsequent reversal.
After the leak of the US Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade, there’s a lot of attention on the courts, especially in cases involving abortion law.
In this case, the Florida Supreme Court claims the release of this decision was ‘human error,’ not a leak.
On Wednesday evening a one-page ruling was posted to the Florida Supreme Court’s website.
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In it, the court rejected an emergency motion filed by abortion clinics that sought to have the state’s 15-week abortion ban put on hold.
Just hours later, that ruling was vacated.
The court issued a separate order in which it explained the ruling was issued ‘in error’ and that the motion remains under consideration.
“The order released Wednesday afternoon was an error of the clerk’s office, a human error by staff. The order vacating was filed and publicly distributed when the error was recognized,” said Paul Flemming, Director of the Florida Supreme Court’s Public Information Office in an emailed statement.
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There’s a lot of public interest in this case, especially after Attorney General Ashley Moody filed a response to the emergency motion on Tuesday.
In that response Moody challenged decades of court precedent that link the state constitution’s privacy clause to abortion access, calling the decision “egregiously wrong.”
One of the plaintiffs in the case is A Woman’s Choice, a Jacksonville-based abortion clinic.
We asked the clinic’s President and CEO Kelly Flynn, whether she’s concerned the clinics suing will still get a fair shot in light of the accidental ruling.
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“We were disappointed when we heard the decision, however this type of error is not normal, although it does happen. We won’t speculate at this point. So we will continue wait for the final decision,” said Flynn.
A final decision on this matter will be the first indication we get from the court on whether it may be leaning towards stripping away Florida’s unique constitutional protection for abortion access that has stood since 1989.
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