FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – July 1, 2016
CONTACT: ACLU of Florida Media Office, media@aclufl.org, (786) 363-2737
MIAMI, FL - Days after a Supreme Court ruling struck down a similar Texas law, a federal judge has issued an order halting enforcement of a Florida law putting new restrictions on abortion providers that was set to go into effect today. In an order issued last night, U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle found that the law, being challenged by Florida Planned Parenthood affiliates, must not be enforced because it violates women’s constitutional rights.
Responding to the order, ACLU of Florida legal director Nancy Abudu stated:
“Judge Hinkle’s order means that the impact of this week’s powerful Supreme Court decision reaffirming a woman’s right to an abortion is already being felt here in Florida. Both proponents and opponents of these laws have known all along that the onerous burdens put on providers of abortion care have nothing to do with protecting patients, and the Supreme Court has declared that when it comes to these laws, the emperor has no clothes. Lawmakers cannot use bogus, junk science claims to justify laws designed solely to make it harder for a woman to access constitutionally-protected abortion care.
“We congratulate our colleagues at Planned Parenthood for this victory and are currently assessing how Monday’s Supreme Court decision will impact other ongoing efforts to protect a woman’s right to choose abortion against attacks from our legislature. The next shoe to drop will likely be in our lawsuit challenging Florida’s law mandating that a woman seeking an abortion must wait 24 hours and make a medically-unnecessary second trip.
“Given these two decisions, we are even more hopeful the Florida Supreme Court will halt any future enforcement of Florida's 24-hour wait requirement.”
In a separate lawsuit, the ACLU, with the Center for Reproductive Rights and Richard Johnson of Tallahassee, is challenging Florida’s law preventing a woman seeking an abortion from obtaining the procedure for at least 24 hours after meeting with her doctor and forcing her to make an additional, medically unnecessary trip to the clinic. More information on that case is available here.