TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Florida’s 15-week abortion ban was temporarily halted Tuesday morning, then quickly restored, after lawyers for the state appealed a Leon County circuit judge’s injunction he promised last week.
In a 68-page order, Circuit Judge John C. Cooper said he was bound by Florida Supreme Court precedent, which ruled in 1989 that Florida’s right to privacy, enshrined in the state Constitution, protected the right to an abortion.
“This Court must follow the Florida Supreme Court’s precedents on the right to privacy as those precedents currently exist, not as they might exist in the future,” Cooper wrote.
The injunction was in effect less than an hour, however. A spokesperson for Gov. Ron DeSantis said the state has appealed Cooper’s injunction, which automatically nullified it.
For now, that means that House Bill 5, which DeSantis signed into law in April, remains the law in Florida. The law took effect on Friday.
Under House Bill 5, nearly all abortions are banned after 15 weeks since a person’s last menstrual period. People can still obtain an abortion after that cutoff if their health is threatened or if their baby has a “fatal fetal abnormality.”
Story by Lawrence Mower, Tampa Bay Times.
