State Court Bars Enforcement of Florida 24-Hour Abortion Mandatory Delay Law, 1 Day Before Set to Go into Effect
Temporary injunction comes in lawsuit brought by ACLU and Center for Reproductive Rights, prevents law from being enforced while lawsuit continues
TALLAHASSEE – A state court judge issued an order today stopping enforcement of a recently passed Florida law requiring a woman seeking an abortion to wait 24 hours and make multiple medically unnecessary visits to a clinic before the procedure could take place. HB 633 was passed on June 10th and was set to go into effect tomorrow, July 1st.
Leon County Chief Judge Charles A. Francis’s order comes in a lawsuit brought by the ACLU and the Center for Reproductive Rights. Groups filed on behalf of Bread and Roses, a Gainesville reproductive health care provider, and Medical Students for Choice, an organization of medical students dedicated to making reproductive health care, including abortion, a part of standard medical education and residency training. The injunction prevents the law, which was set to go into effect on July 1, from being enforced while the legal challenge continues.
Responding to the order, ACLU of Florida Legal Director Nancy Abudu stated:
“We are very pleased that the court saw this law for what it is: an unconstitutional attack on the right of Florida women to make their own choices about their healthcare, including abortion. The Florida Constitution’s guarantee of a right to privacy protects women from laws like this that create needless roadblocks between them and their healthcare decisions. We are pleased that no Florida woman is going to be subject to these dangerous and unconstitutional delays before getting the medical care they need as we complete the legal challenge to this destructive law.”
Renée Paradis, Senior Staff Attorney for the national ACLU’s Reproductive Freedom Project stated:
“The court has recognized that this law serves only to demean women and the choices they and their families make about their own medical care. This decision ensures that the right to privacy guaranteed to women by the Florida Constitution will be protected and allows women to receive the care they need while the courts hear our legal challenge to this unconstitutional law.”
Autumn Katz, Staff Attorney for the Center for Reproductive Rights stated:
“Women are fully capable of making thoughtful decisions about their lives, families, and healthcare, and this ruling will keep them from being second-guessed or delayed by politicians who presume to know better. We will continue to fight this demeaning law until the courts permanently strike it down and ensure no Florida woman is ever forced to wait for purely political reasons to get the health care she needs.”
A copy of the order is available here: http://aclufl.org/?p=6801
More information about the lawsuit is available here:
https://aclufl.org/2015/06/11/aclu-and-center-for-reproductive-rights-file-lawsuit-to-block-florida-law-that-forces-mandatory-wait-additional-visits-for-abortion/
