Florida Abortion Restrictions To Remain In Effect During Legal Battle

Florida’s new ban on on abortion after 15 weeks will remain in force while ongoing litigation over its constitutionality plays out in the courts.

Leon County Circuit Judge John Cooper issued a temporary injunction on the law last week, finding that it violated Florida’s constitution. The state appealed, which, under Florida’s court rules, triggered a stay of the injunction and allowed the law to stay in effect. Judge Cooper denied a request by abortion clinics and a physician to vacate the stay.

In their emergency motion, the plaintiffs were adamant that the injunction needed to continue.

“Every day that HB 5 (the law) remains in effect, Florida patients in desperate need of post-15-week abortion services are being turned away and forced to attempt to seek abortions out of state, if they are able to do so; to attempt abortions outside the medical system; or to continue pregnancies against their will,” the motion said.

Judge Cooper declined to do so. Pointing out the “very high burden” set by the 1st District Court of Appeals for vacating stays during the appeals process, Cooper wrote that “courts are obliged to follow binding precedent even if they might wish to decide the case differently” and noted that direction from the appeals court meant that automatic stays may only be vacated “under the most compelling circumstances.”

The law in question, HB 5, was passed in early March and drew ire of the White House and pro-abortion forces across the country — Florida’s Governor, Ron DeSantis, has regularly clashed with the Biden Administration on policy, especially on hot button issues such as COVID restrictions and gender ideology.

The law was challenged on the grounds that it violated a privacy provision in the Florida Constitution. Without the new restrictions, abortion in Florida would remain legal up through the first 24 weeks in pregnancy, and its 55 abortion clinics could remain in operation and offer their services to women from neighboring states, many of which have trigger laws that have or will ban abortion outright following the recent overturning of Roe v. Wade, or else have even more stringent restrictions on abortion than the proposed Florida law.

Florida has a very high rate of abortions per capita, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, and the overwhelming majority take place during the first trimester, and would remain legal even under the new restrictions. Since the overturn of Roe v. Wade Governor DeSantis has voiced his desire to “expand pro-life protections” in the state, although the governor’s office has declined to outline specifics beyond the current 15 week ban.

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