Florida six-week abortion ban will take effect after Supreme Court ruling upholds law

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida’s six-week abortion ban will take effect after a Florida Supreme Court ruling on Monday.

In the ruling, the court found that the “Privacy Clause” of the Florida Constitution does not invalidate Florida’s abortion restrictions.

We conclude there is no basis under the Privacy Clause to invalidate the statute. In doing so, we recede from our prior decisions in which—relying on reasoning the U.S. Supreme Court has rejected— we held that the Privacy Clause guaranteed the right to receive an abortion through the end of the second trimester.

Justice Jamie R. Grosshans

The court ruled in favor of the state’s 15-week abortion ban, which triggered the six-week ban to go into effect 30 days after the ruling.

The Florida Legislature approved, and Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the six-week abortion ban April 2023.

Exceptions include abortions up to 15 weeks for rape, incest and human trafficking. Other exceptions include if the mother’s life is at risk.

There is trigger language in the six-week bill for the abortion ban to go into effect 30 days after one of the following events occurred:

• The Florida Supreme court ruling overturns one of several other related cases
• A Florida Supreme court ruling stating that the privacy clause in the Florida Constitution does not protect the right to abortion
• An amendment to the Florida Constitution which provides the same.

The House bill was spearheaded by Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulicka, R-Fort Myers, and Rep. Jennifer Canady, R-Lakeland. Sen. Erin Grall, R-Fort Pierce, sponsored the Senate version.

The 15-week abortion ban has been challenged in court following its passage in 2022.

Plaintiffs argued during oral arguments that the abortion ban is unconstitutional, claiming it violated the state constitution’s privacy clause.

However, the state argued that the Florida Constitution does not establish a right to abortion.