BREAKING: Florida Supreme Court Rules on Abortion

The Court allows 6-week ban & for voters to decide in November

The Florida Supreme Court came down with two abortion rulings today, one good and one very, very bad.

The Ron DeSantis-packed Court ruled that privacy protections in the Florida constitution don’t apply to abortion—undoing decades of precedent.¹ A response to a challenge against the state’s 15-week ban, this decision means that a newer, 6-week ban—one that DeSantis signed into law last April—will go automatically into effect with 30 days. As we know, a 6-week ban in practice is not that different from a total ban.

There’s no overstating how bad this is for the people of Florida and the entire Southern region. Millions of people are going to lose access to abortion: Florida has as many people in it as the populations of Greece and Sweden combined, and abortion clinics in the state have been serving a tremendous amount of out-of-state patients.

Also, please don’t forget that one of the Florida Supreme Court justices has a major conflict of interest: Justice Charles Canady is married to State Rep. Jennifer Canady, who co-sponsored the 6-week ban. (Former Chief Justice Barbara Pariente even called for his recusal.)

Floridians decidedly do not want this ban: 75% oppose the law, including 60% of Republicans. That opposition is going to be important, especially given the second ruling from the Florida Supreme Court: they’ve approved the language of a pro-choice ballot measure.

That means voters will have the chance to weigh in directly on abortion rights. Amendment 4 from Floridians Protecting Freedom will have more of an uphill battle than past measures because it requires 60% of the vote to pass. (Republicans even tried to to raise the standards on ballot measures to require 66.67% of the vote.)

The good news, though, is that recent polling showed that 62% of voters support the measure—including a majority of Republicans. And that was before this decision banning abortion at 6 weeks, which is sure to infuriate Floridians.

The Florida abortion rights advocates that I’ve spoken to think that this new ban is going to be a disaster for Republicans come November. It’s not just that they’re feeling confident about the ballot measure; the assumption is any Republican running for reelection is going to be absolutely hammered on abortion rights. As they should be.

There’s also a hope, of course, that anger over the abortion ban will drive more Florida voters to Joe Biden in the presidential election. In short, they’re hoping for a ‘fuck around and find out’ moment across the board.

Anna Hochkamner, Executive Director of Florida Women’s Freedom Coalition, tells me that while the Court’s ruling on the state ban is triggering a public health crisis and that the “impact on women and girls will be heartbreaking,” the group is also hopeful:

“The opportunity for Florida voters to settle this issue, in favor of abortion access, the dignity and health of women and girls, and the appropriate role of government in healthcare decisions will be a historic driver in the ballot box this coming November.”

To donate to the ballot measure campaign, click here. To find an abortion fund in Florida for care or to donate, click here.

1. The Florida Supreme Court ruled in 1989 that the right to privacy in the state constitution “is clearly implicated in a woman’s decision of whether or not to continue her pregnancy.” The Court wrote, “We can conceive of few more personal or private decisions concerning one’s body that one can make in the course of a lifetime.”