Florida Supreme Court hears oral arguments on 15-week abortion ban

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Florida Supreme Court heard oral arguments Friday in a lawsuit that challenges the state’s 15-week abortion ban.

In April 2022, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation to ban most abortions after 15 weeks in Florida, which has been in effect since June 2022.

In June 2022, the American Civil Liberties Union, along with other groups, filed a lawsuit on behalf of groups like Planned Parenthood. The case has made its way up to the Florida Supreme Court after Roe v. Wade was overturned due to Florida’s privacy clause.

A six-week abortion ban, signed into legislation by DeSantis in May, is awaiting the decision on the 15-week abortion ban before taking effect.

During oral arguments Friday, the lawyer for the plaintiffs, Whitney L. White, claimed the law “violates fundamental rights,” and subjects pregnant Floridians to “serious and unnecessary risks to their health, and indeed their lives.”

The plaintiffs argued that the abortion ban is “unconstitutional under the Florida state constitution, which contains an explicit privacy clause that protects individuals’ right to privacy, including abortion.”

“The plaintiffs here have faced a clear injury, in fact, because they’ve been coerced under threat of government enforcement, into complying with HB 5, even though it requires them to act in ways that are contrary to their professional judgment, and contrary to their ethical obligations to their patients,” White said.

White said if the court “doesn’t step in now, there is an even more dangerous six-week ban waiting in the wings.”

State Solicitor General Henry C. Whitaker said the Florida Constitution “does not establish a right to abortion, and the court should overrule its precedents that hold otherwise.”

“What is paramount in this case, is what the voters understood the privacy clause to mean,” Whitaker said.

Whitaker said there is “no indication that the particularly technical sense of privacy that Roe used to derive an abortion right was adopted by the people.”

“I understand the plaintiffs have raised substantial concerns about women who need to have abortions, suffer barriers to getting abortions, and terrible things, and the legislature weighted and balanced those concerns against the interest in preserving life,” Whitaker said.

“And that kind of weighing and balancing is precisely the kind of thing that should be done by the legislature and not this court, and that’s what we would ask this court to do,” Whitaker said.

“Not only does it violate the state’s constitution, but it will force Floridians to remain pregnant against their will, violating their dignity and bodily autonomy,” Planned Parenthood said in June 2022.

The ACLU of Florida said the abortion ban will “force Floridians to remain pregnant against their will, violating their dignity and bodily autonomy, and endangering their families, their health, and even their lives.”

Sen. Lauren Book, D-Davie, was present in the courtroom and shared her thoughts on social media.

“If this Court agrees to reverse precedent, the safety of women, girls, and sexual assault survivors throughout Florida and the Southeast will be imperiled, because — as people across the political spectrum agree — abortion is absolutely healthcare,” Book said.

In a press release Thursday, Florida Voice for the Unborn said they expect a “favorable landmark decision” from the Florida Supreme Court, “given that five of the seven current justices have been appointed by pro-life Governor Ron DeSantis.”

Florida Voice for the Unborn is a Tallahassee-based grassroots lobbying group that only focuses on pro-life issues impacting the unborn.

The group issued a statement to “strongly urge” the court to render a rapid decision in the case.

“Every extra day that the Florida Supreme Court takes to render a written decision costs the lives of countless preborn children here in the Sunshine State. Therefore, Florida Voice for the Unborn calls upon the Florida Supreme Court to expediate its expected favorable written decision so that it is issued in a mere matter of weeks – and not months.”

“Florida’s unborn children have waited long enough!” the organization said.

Planned Parenthood was among one entity to filed a motion for a temporary injunction in the trial court to block the law passed by the 2022 Florida Legislature. The trial court granted the temporary injunction, finding that the law was likely unconstitutional. However, the Florida Supreme Court denied the request to temporarily halt the 15-week abortion ban, so the law is currently in effect.