A Florida judge blocked a new state law on Tuesday which would require Florida women to wait 24 hours before getting an abortion, and Attorney General Pam Bondi was quick to fire back saying she plans to appeal the ruling.
The newly-created law would require women to wait 24 hours before being able to get an abortion, but exceptions would exist for victims of rape, incest or domestic violence as long as they can provide evidence via police reports or medical records.
The mandatory waiting period, said the law’s supporters, would hopefully change some women’s minds before they decided to follow through with abortions, but opponents of the law said it was an attack on women being able to make their own decisions about their health.
Florida would have been the 27th state nationwide to institute a mandatory waiting period for abortions.
The law was scheduled to take effect Wednesday, but Circuit Court Judge Charles Francis blocked the law Tuesday, saying state lawmakers hadn’t demonstrated why the law isn’t a burden to women’s privacy rights.
"After an evidentiary hearing, the court has no evidence in front of it in which to make any factual determination that a 24-hour waiting period with the accompanying second trip necessitated by the same is not an additional burden on a woman's right to privacy," Francis wrote.
Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi filed an appeal of Francis’ ruling Tuesday evening, which stayed the circuit judge’s decision until he decides to lift the stay.
The new law had been the centerpoint of debate between state lawmakers and civil liberties groups alike. Opponents of the law said it would make getting an abortion particularly difficult for some working women who may not be able to fit consecutive appointments in their schedule.
Eventually, the disagreements came to a head when the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida and the Center for Reproductive Rights filed a lawsuit earlier this month, only a day after Gov. Rick Scott signed the bill into law.
The ACLU was boosted by Tuesday’s block of the law, which coincided with their concerns over privacy issues.
"We are very pleased that the court saw this law for what it is: an unconstitutional attack on the right of Florida women to make their own choices about their health care, including abortion," ACLU of Florida Legal Director Nancy Abudu said in a statement.
The Center for Reproductive Rights vowed it wouldn’t back down from the fight against the waiting period.
“We will continue to fight this demeaning law until the courts permanently strike it down and ensure no Florida woman is ever forced to wait for purely political reasons to get the health care she needs,” said Autumn Katz, staff attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights.
This is a breaking story. Check back for updates.
