Florida law banning abortions after 15 weeks in effect despite injunction News
© WikiMedia (Tony Webster)
Florida law banning abortions after 15 weeks in effect despite injunction

A Florida law banning abortions after 15 weeks is still in effect as of Tuesday despite an earlier injunction. Judge John Cooper issued an order on Friday temporarily halting the law, HB5, from taking effect. The injunction went into effect Tuesday morning, but the state of Florida filed their appeal an hour later and halted the injunction.

Planned Parenthood and several other abortion providers filed the lawsuit in June arguing the law “criminalizes pre-viability abortions in direct violation of Floridians’ fundamental privacy rights guaranteed by the Florida Constitution.”

The bill went into effect on July 1 and provides three exceptions to the 15 week ban. The bill provides that a women can have an abortion after 15 weeks if two physicians certify in writing that it is medically necessary to save a pregnant person’s life or “avert a serious risk,” there is a medical necessity for legitimate emergency to save the pregnant person’s life or the fetus is not viable due to a fatal abnormality.

State Representative Anna Eskamani said she expected the appeal and attorneys will “fight again in court to get [the] injunction back.”