Case Updates: Florida appeals injunction against Florida's 15-week abortion law

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Nothing we didn't expect

Sun Sentinel

No Paywall

A Leon circuit judge on Tuesday issued a temporary injunction against Florida’s 15-week abortion law that was quickly blocked by a state appeal.

The appeal reinstated the law because it automatically overturned Judge John Cooper’s injunction until the case reaches a higher court. The First District Court of Appeal will be the next stop for the case, which Gov. Ron DeSantis has vowed to take to the state Supreme Court.

The law bans most abortions after 15 weeks of gestation, with no exceptions for rape or incest. Violators could face up to five years in prison. Physicians and other medical professionals could lose their licenses and face administrative fines of $10,000 for each violation.

DeSantis has previously said he ultimately wants the high court to rule that the right to an abortion is not included in the constitution’s privacy clause that reads “every natural person has the right to be let alone and free from governmental intrusion into the person’s private life except as otherwise provided herein.”

ETA: I take issue with the use of the word "overturned." The lower court's decision is not "overturned", it is stayed; paused; stopped; suspended. Those are better words.

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1. Update: ACLU has petitioned the Court to remove the automatic stay

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2. Update: State files to fast-track case to the state Supreme Court

https://archive.ph/00Bdd

TALLAHASSEE — Attorney General Ashley Moody’s office has requested that a battle about a new 15-week abortion law go quickly to the Florida Supreme Court — and indicated that the state will use a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down Roe v. Wade to help defend the law.

The request filed late Tuesday was part of a flurry of legal activity after Leon Circuit Judge John Cooper issued a temporary injunction to block the law (HB 5), which prevents abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy without exceptions for rape and incest.

The state immediately filed a notice of appeal of Cooper’s ruling at the 1st District Court of Appeal. Later, it filed a document requesting that the case be fast-tracked to the Florida Supreme Court, effectively bypassing the appeals court.

“The circuit court has enjoined HB 5, which restricts the small fraction of abortions in Florida that occur after 15 weeks’ gestation and do not meet one of HB 5?s exceptions,” the document said. “The state’s appeal from that decision raises questions of exceptional public importance that warrant immediate resolution by the Florida Supreme Court. This (1st District) Court should so certify this appeal (to the Supreme Court) as soon as practicable.”

The filing also indicated that the state plans to use the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 24 ruling that struck down the 49-year-old Roe v. Wade abortion-rights decision to help defend the 15-week limit.

[steve2470]

3. thanks for the article and the link ! :) nt

[In It to Win It]

4. Update: ACLU has petitioned the Court to remove the automatic stay, COURT DENIES ACLU MOTION

as of today.

Automatic stay is still in place. The 15-week ban is still in effect.

ETA: I should say that the trial court denied the ACLU's motion to vacate the automatic stay.