With abortion rights emerging as a major issue in this year’s U.S. presidential election, a law severely restricting abortion is expected to go into effect in Florida. The Washington Post reported on the day that the Florida Supreme Court ruled on the 1st that Florida’s constitution does not protect the right to abortion. Accordingly, the law banning abortion after 6 weeks of pregnancy, enacted last year, will take effect 30 days later.
The WP evaluated this ruling as virtually eliminating access to abortion services in the southern United States, except in exceptional cases such as rape, incest, fatal fetal abnormalities, and emergency medical situations. However, on this day, the Florida Supreme Court decided in a separate ruling that an amendment specifying the right to abortion in the state constitution could be put on the ballot in November.
This allows Florida voters to directly decide on the abortion issue, and if the state constitutional amendment is passed in November, the law banning abortion after six weeks of pregnancy will be repealed. WP evaluated that these two decisions of the Florida Supreme Court show a cross-section of the conflict occurring across the United States after the Supreme Court abolished the Roe v. Wade decision that protected abortion as a constitutional right in 2022.
The Florida Supreme Court, which made this ruling, has become much more conservative during the term of Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, but opinion polls show that most Florida voters oppose banning abortions in the first trimester, WP explained. Last year, more than 82,000 people underwent abortions in Florida, the most among the 17 U.S. states that have banned or nearly banned abortion. American media reported that with this ruling, abortion rights could have a significant impact on the choices of Florida voters in the presidential election in November.
Florida’s ban on abortion after six weeks of pregnancy was also an issue in the Republican presidential primary. Anti-abortion groups praised Florida’s law, but DeSantis’ rival for governor, former President Donald Trump, called it “horrible,” and even some Republicans, who lost several elections over abortion rights, faced backlash if it strictly banned abortion. He warned that it could happen. Meanwhile, the New York Times (NYT) explained that after the repeal of Roe v. Wade, seven states, including Kansas, Ohio, and Michigan, protected abortion rights through direct voting.
It was also reported that pro-abortion groups in about 10 states are trying to put abortion rights issues on the ballot, with Florida being the largest of them.