The Florida Supreme Court is set to rule on the state abortion ban after hearing oral arguments earlier this month from the solicitor general and counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union.
At issue in Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida et al. v. State of Florida et al is legislation prohibiting all abortions after 15 weeks of gestation and is part of House Bill 5, enacted by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The plaintiffs sued the state last year alleging that HB 5, also known as the Reducing Fetal and Infant Mortality Act, violates a right to privacy within the Florida Constitution.
Florida Solicitor General Henry Whitaker argued on behalf of the state while ACLU Attorney Whitney White represented pro-abortion plaintiffs.
“If this Court doesn’t step in now, there is an even more dangerous six-week ban waiting in the wings,” White told the panel of judges at the Sept. 8 hearing.
DeSantis, who signed Senate Bill 300 in April after the Florida legislature approved it, was criticized by Pres. Donald Trump as making a terrible mistake, according to media reports.
"The six-week bill has every exception that pro-abortionists want," said Lynda Bell, president of Florida Right to Life. "It has exceptions for rape, incest, life of the mother, fetal anomaly, medical emergencies and every single exception, which is absolutely popular with Floridians in that they're very uncomfortable with abortion, but they want abortion with these exceptions in the law and they're there."
Known as the Heartbeat Protection Act, SB 300 is ineffective due to the ongoing legal challenge to the existing 15-week ban.
“I think Trump was saying that because there's a trigger law that if and when the 15-week bill is upheld by the Florida Supreme Court, within 30 days or so, the six week bill will then go into effect,” Bell told the Florida Record. “That's probably what Trump is referring to because it's a separate bill a year apart but it does tie together due to the challenge within the courts.”
While the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade before the 15-week ban was approved by the legislature, Whitaker argued the right to privacy has never included abortion.
“It’s a good bet that the 15-week bill will be upheld by the Florida Supreme Court as constitutional and falling in line with Florida's constitution because the constitution was improperly interpreted with the privacy clause being inclusive of abortion,” Bell added.