Shortly after a Florida judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked a new 15-week abortion ban just days after it took effect, the state has appealed his decision.
Judge John C. Cooper issued the order Tuesday morning, an expected move following an oral ruling last week in which he said the law violated the state constitution. Less than an hour later, the state appealed Cooper's decision, automatically putting the law back into effect.
The case was brought by reproductive health providers who argue that the state constitution guarantees a right to the procedure. The law had gone into effect Friday before being blocked.
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Cooper said Florida’s ban was “unconstitutional in that it violates the privacy provision of the Florida Constitution."
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had announced that the state would be appealing Cooper's decision.
“The Florida Supreme Court previously misinterpreted Florida’s right to privacy as including a right to an abortion," DeSantis' office said in a statement last week. “We reject this interpretation because the Florida Constitution does not include — and has never included — a right to kill an innocent unborn child.”
The decision came as abortion laws change at a frenzied pace across the country following the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, with several state laws and court cases shifting access to the procedure.
The law prohibits abortions after 15 weeks, with exceptions if the procedure is necessary to save the pregnant woman’s life, prevent serious injury or if the fetus has a fatal abnormality. It does not allow for exemptions in cases where pregnancies were caused by rape, incest or human trafficking.
The law was passed by the GOP-controlled legislature and signed by DeSantis this spring.
