Florida’s 15-Week Abortion Ban in Effect After Brief Injunction 

Florida’s ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy is now in effect. It comes after the ban was briefly blocked by a court. 

But the block of the ban’s enforcement was automatically put on hold on Tuesday, allowing the ban to come into effect. 

Circuit Court Judge John Cooper last week said he would grant the request of state abortion providers to temporarily block the enforcement of the ban. The ban came into effect on Friday. Cooper filed his injunction order on Tuesday, at which time the Republican-led state of Florida almost immediately appealed it. 

Under Florida state law, the appeal triggers an automatic freeze of an injunction, which means the ban could come into effect. The abortion providers, the plaintiffs, plan to seek a reinstatement of the injunction and to block the ban for good. 

The plaintiffs are being represented by organizations including the ACLU of Florida and the Center for Reproductive Rights. The representatives said that the trial court correctly recognized the law is a blatant violation of Floridians’ state constitutional rights, and that they seek to have the law blocked for good. 

Previously, Florida was a destination for women across the Southeast seeking an abortion in their second trimester. The state used to allow abortions up to 24 weeks, whereas neighboring states had stricter limits. 

But the new law blocks all abortions at 15 weeks. The only exceptions are in cases in which the mother is at risk of death or permanent injury, or the fetus has a fatal abnormality. There are zero exceptions for rape or incest. 

Florida is one of many states seeing a rush of litigation by abortion rights groups seeking to preserve women’s reproductive rights and women’s constitutional rights for access to abortion. Women’s abortion rights were obliterated by the Supreme Court’s historic decision on June 24 to overturn the 1973 landmark ruling Roe v. Wade, which established the right to an abortion under the Constitution. 

Now it’s up to the states to determine women’s rights and reproductive rights. 

Nearly two dozen Republican states are now trying to eliminate abortions, or have already quickly enacted laws to do so.