The Florida Supreme Court’s conservative justices repeatedly questioned on Friday whether the state’s privacy rights extend to abortion as they considered whether to uphold a ban on the procedure after 15 weeks of pregnancy — a decision that could overturn decades of legal precedent and trigger a far more restrictive ban.
Few women know they are pregnant by six weeks, and abortion rights backers say such an early ban amounts to near total prohibition.
The justices did not indicate when they would rule.
During a closely watched oral argument in Tallahassee on Friday, a lawyer for Planned Parenthood, the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida and several abortion providers argued that the court should not narrow the scope of the privacy rights that Floridians have relied on for 40 years.
The state’s solicitor general countered that the court erred in extending privacy rights to abortion, as it first did in 1989.
Organizations:
Florida Supreme, Republicans, American Civil Liberties Union of
Locations:
Florida, American, Tallahassee, American Civil Liberties Union of Florida