Florida Supreme Court OKs abortion amendment for ballot; 6-week ban goes into effect in 30 days

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — 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 six weeks that will begin in 30 days in a separate case.

The second abortion ruling, which wasn’t expected Monday, upheld the 15-week abortion ban already in place and will allow the six-week ban approved by Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Republican Legislature to take effect. It overturned a long-standing precedent by the Florida Supreme Court that the right to an abortion was enshrined in the constitution’s privacy clause.

Of the current seven-member court, five justices were appointed by DeSantis.

The seemingly contradictory rulings put Florida for now into the realm of other Deep South states that have largely banned almost all abortions.

The amendment on the state ballot would change that. 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, the end of the second trimester. It would need the approval of 60% of the voters.

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.”

It would not change the law requiring that parents be notified before minors can have an abortion.

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 news conference.

“Today the Florida Supreme Court confirmed what we’ve known all along. Amendment 4 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 six-week ban. She said it would have ripple effects across the entire Southeast, where states have largely banned or severely restricted the procedure. Once Florida’s ban takes effect, North Carolina will be the closest state that offers abortions past six weeks, she said.

“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,” 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.”

The state Supreme Court’s only role was to decide if the wording was unambiguous, but during oral arguments in February, the justices and lawyers got into a discussion about viability.

Chief Justice Carlos Muñiz wondered whether a fetus would be protected under a provision in Florida’s constitution guaranteeing the right to life to “all natural persons.”

But the Florida Supreme Court ruled in 1978 that a fetus was not a “person” under the state’s wrongful death statute.

Attorney General Ashley Moody has 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 will affect voter turnout from both major parties, said Aubrey Jewett, a political science professor at the University of Central Florida.

“It’s expected to increase turnout among Democrats,” Jewett said, especially Democrat-leaning voters — young people, women and independent voters.

“Polls show a strong majority of Floridians feel very passionately about the issue and want the opportunity to vote on it,” he said. “Republicans have a tendency to show up either way.”

John Stemberger, newly named president of Liberty Counsel Action, said last month that a coalition of anti-abortion groups is prepared to oppose the measure if it does make the ballot.

Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade abortion decision in 2022, many states have severely limited or banned the procedure, including most of the states bordering Florida. The closest places that allow pregnancies past 15 weeks are Illinois and Washington, D.C.

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.

Even without the passage of this amendment, groups including Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union are arguing in a lawsuit against the 15-week ban that a 1980 privacy clause in Florida’s constitution already protects the right to abortion.

The clause, in part, states “Every natural person has the right to be let alone and free from governmental intrusion into the person’s private life except as otherwise provided herein.”

The state Supreme Court has previously interpreted this clause as protecting abortion, but the court’s makeup has changed dramatically since then. Of the seven-member court, five justices were appointed by DeSantis.

It’s unknown when the court will issue its ruling on the 15-week ban’s constitutionality.

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