A state judge has given the green light to a 24-hour waiting period for abortions, effective immediately, in what advocates called yet another blow to reproductive rights in Florida.
The 2015 law that created the waiting period, signed by Gov. Rick Scott, had been in limbo for seven years as its constitutionality was debated in the courts.
The law requires women to show up in person for one appointment and then return no sooner than 24 hours later to undergo the abortion.
In a ruling issued Friday, Leon Circuit Court Judge Angela Dempsey upheld the law and rejected requests from the plaintiffs, clinic operator Gainesville Woman Care LLC, and the group Medical Students for Choice, to hold off on a decision or delay its implementation until April 30 to allow time to reschedule appointments.
“This court’s ruling merely puts the people of Florida in the same position as the people of a majority of States,” Dempsey wrote. “This is hardly the sort of irreparable harm that would justify the extraordinary remedy [the] plaintiffs seek.”
The decision continued high-profile victories for abortion opponents in Florida, including a law passed during this year’s legislative session that would prevent most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Other changes in recent years have included requiring parental consent before minors can have abortions.
In her ruling, Dempsey, a Gov. Jeb Bush appointee, added, “plaintiffs can point to no evidence that these laws have prevented any women — let alone all women — who desire an abortion from obtaining one.”
State Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, disagreed.
“This is incredibly damaging for women in Florida,” said Eskamani, formerly of Planned Parenthood. “You have to remember that many Florida counties do not have an abortion provider.
“If you live in Brevard County, for example, you are driving upwards of an hour, if not more to get to a clinic,” she said. “They’re going to have to find additional transportation if they don’t have a car, time off work, more child care coverage if they already have children. And you couple that with a 15-week abortion ban, and this is going to be one of the most dangerous years for women’s health in the state of Florida in our history.”
Eskamani also criticized the assumption of the ruling that women who make the decision to end the pregnancy have not thought hard about it.
“Again, that’s not the case, since it’s a very intimate and personal decision,” she said. “Just the harm and trauma that these women experience where they’re being told that, ‘You’re not ready to make this decision, you have to go home and think about it,’ when there’s no medical evidence to support that claim.”
While the Legislature and Scott approved the law, it immediately drew a legal challenge. Leon Circuit Judge Charles Francis issued a temporary injunction against it, a move that was later backed by the Supreme Court.
That prevented the law from being enforced as the legal fight continued in circuit court and the 1st District Court of Appeal.
In 2018, Circuit Judge Terry Lewis issued a summary judgment that said the law was unconstitutional. But that decision was overturned in 2019 by a panel of the Tallahassee-based appeals court, sending the dispute back to circuit court.
Dempsey issued her summary judgment ruling Friday in favor of the state, after calling off a trial that had been scheduled this month.
The plaintiffs could not be reached for comment on whether they would appeal the decision.
While the state Supreme Court in 2017 backed the temporary injunction against the law, the high court has become far more conservative during the past three years because of appointments made by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.
News Service of Florida contributed to this report.
