State seeks to clear way for 15-week abortion limitAttorneys for the state are fighting an attempt to block a 15-week abortion limit that is slated to take effect July 1.
Lawyers in Attorney General Ashley Moody’s office filed a 29-page document Monday urging Leon County Circuit Judge John Cooper to reject a request by abortion clinics and a doctor for a temporary injunction against the limit, which Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law in April.
Cooper will hear arguments June 27 on the proposed temporary injunction in a case that could ultimately test whether a privacy clause in the Florida Constitution will protect abortion rights in the future. The temporary-injunction arguments also show differences about issues such as fetal development and viability.
“At a minimum, the state’s interest is compelling in situations where the effect of HB 5 (the new law) is to encourage women to schedule their abortions earlier and results in a less dangerous medical procedure,” the state’s lawyers wrote in the filing Monday. “As to protecting children in utero, the state defendants’ experts will show that a 15-week-old child is a distinct living being who is conscious and experiences pain.”
But the plaintiffs focused on Florida Supreme Court rulings that date back more than three decades. Those rulings have protected abortion rights based on the privacy clause in the state Constitution.
“Plaintiffs have a substantial likelihood of success on the merits because HB 5 is unconstitutional on its face,” the plaintiffs’ June 1 motion for a temporary injunction said. “Simply put, the right to privacy enshrined in the Florida Constitution protects the right to obtain an abortion before fetal viability, and the act (HB 5) contravenes that right by banning abortion months before viability.”
The Republican-controlled Legislature passed the law during the legislative session that ended in March. The 15-week restriction is similar to a Mississippi law that is being considered by the U.S. Supreme Court. A draft opinion leaked in the Mississippi case indicated justices could be poised to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion-rights decision.
Several abortion clinics and a doctor filed a lawsuit June 1 in Leon County circuit court challenging the new Florida law, which includes limited exceptions for situations such as if abortions are needed to save pregnant women’s lives. The 15-week limit is dated from women’s last menstrual periods.
While a potential U.S. Supreme Court ruling that strikes down Roe v. Wade could play a role in the case, the plaintiffs have focused heavily on the privacy clause in the Florida Constitution. Also, they argued in the motion for a temporary injunction that preventing abortions after 15 weeks could endanger women’s health by requiring them to give birth...............
https://www.winknews.com/2022/06/21/state-seeks-to-clear-way-for-15-week-abortion-limit/
