The Florida Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case brought by Planned Parenthood, the American Civil Liberties Union, and others challenging harsh restrictions placed on women's reproductive rights by the Republican regime of hard right authoritarian Gov. Ron "Bootsie" DeSantis. In his effort to make Florida into a model for right-wing authoritarian governance, DeSantis appointed five of the seven justices sitting on the Court, and signed a bill earlier this year that would impose a six-week ban 30 days after the Court's ruling on the constitutionality of the current 15 week ban.
Florida's constitution provides for protection against intrusion by the state government into a person's private life, and the plaintiffs argue that that clause protects a woman's reproductive rights, and has been acknowledged as such:
"The privacy clause was put into the Florida Constitution by a voter referendum in 1980 and later affirmed as including abortion rights by the state Supreme Court. Voters rejected a proposed constitutional amendment in 2012 that would have undone those decisions.
Last year’s U.S. Supreme Court decision known as Dobbs, which overturned the Roe vs. Wade ruling and allows states to determine their own abortion rights policies, does not undermine the Florida privacy protections, the plaintiffs contend."
With DeSantis' judicial appointments in the majority, it's not likely that the plaintiffs will prevail, and once a ruling is issued in favor of DeSantis, Florida will soon join the ranks of the most retrograde and misogynist states in their treatment of women's exercise of their own reproductive choices. The Florida court's decision will make it much harder for women in Florida, but easier for them to vote the extremists out of office once elections roll around.
(photo: Colin Hackley / Florida Phoenix)
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