While April 1st is a day for pranks and jokes, the Florida Supreme Court opted to use the day to do what is right for Floridians. With a 6-1 ruling, they upheld the state’s ban on abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. This triggered a ban on abortions after six weeks that looks to be put into effect soon. In a separate 4-3 ruling, a ballot measure will now go to the voters in November to make abortion rights part of Florida’s constitution.
This ruling could send a massive shockwave to the polls by driving voters on both sides of the abortion issue to go to the polls. Since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, the voters have consistently voted to support abortion rights at every turn.
As for Florida, they have been living under a 15-week ban since it was signed into law by former GOP Presidential candidate and Governor Ron DeSantis in 2022. With the six-week ban, it passed the Legislature in 2023 with language that would put it into effect one month following an upholding ruling of the 2022 ban.
With exceptions being granted for rape, incest, fetal abnormalities, and risks to the mother, the ban allows for exceptions that go with the opinion of many Floridians. The Florida Access Network says that now they will have to focus their funds on taking women out of Florida for care instead of getting them into state services.
Stephanie Loraine Pineiro serves as the executive director for the advocacy group. She whined following the ruling, “People who can’t afford to travel, can’t afford to lose their jobs because they have to travel for abortion care, these are the people who are going to be forced to remain pregnant. The collateral damage is all of us.” Truthfully, it doesn’t have collateral damage for all of us. Just those without God in our hearts and a conscious in our minds.
