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The Florida Supreme Court ruled on Monday that it will ban abortions
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past six weeks taking effect on May 1st.
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So the court upheld a 15 week ban which took effect in
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2022 and removed the barrier for the six week ban that Governor
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Rhonda Santa signed in April 2023.
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Previously, the state's privacy clause guaranteed the right to receive an
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abortion. The court ruled that Florida's residents will be allowed to
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vote on abortion in the November ballot.
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However, abortion past six weeks is banned in the state until
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then, doctors will have to turn away patients until Florida citizens
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vote later this year.
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The ban will disproportionately affect women in marginalized communities even more.
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Some say a six week ban is similar to a total ban
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because many women do not know they're pregnant until after that.
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There are now 16 states that have a near total ban on
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abortion. And Florida will join next month being the 17th state
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Now joining us are NBC reporter Nicola Acevedo,
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as well as Lupe Rodriguez from the National Latina Institute for Reproductive
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Justice to explain Florida's new abortion policy.
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thanks for having us.
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Thank you. Thank you for being here.
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Nicole, can you explain the latest Florida Supreme Court's
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abortion ruling? And what does this mean for women in the
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state? What out of the Florida Supreme Court,
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what we just saw happen was that the court,
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there was looking into a series of cases,
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a couple of cases that were brought to the court to challenge
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some of the newer laws in the state trying to ban abortions
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after 15 weeks and another one after six weeks and in,
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in a couple of decisions,
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what happened was they uphold the 15 week abortion ban.
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And at the same time,
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they saw the six week one.
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there's a 15 week abortion ban in Florida.
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After that, it's going to be a six week abortion ban
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But there is a catch.
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This court also decided that it would be up for the voters
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whether that law will continue to remain in place moving forward
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in the election, there's gonna be some language in the ballots
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when people go to vote to see if in the state of
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Florida, they want to protect the right for,
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for an abortion. And if voters say yes,
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then these bans that,
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that are going to be in effect in the next several months
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are going to be lifted.
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Some experts say the six week ban on abortion is nearly a
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total ban since many women don't know they're pregnant until after that
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Can you speak on this?
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The majority of women,
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over two thirds of women don't know that they're pregnant by six
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weeks. Many find out very close to six weeks.
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it takes a while to be able to find a place to
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get care. It takes a while to sort of make all
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of the arrangements that have to happen in the state of Florida
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People have to pay out of pocket to get this care
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you know, having the money coming up with what you need
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to be able to do it.
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It really essentially means that people will not have access to this
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care in the state of Florida.
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And unfortunately, what that's what that looks like is that,
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you know, the closest place where folks can get care is
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in Charleston, North Carolina,
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which only serves people until 12 weeks.
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There's just a lot of barriers and issues that will make this
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even more difficult, even more restrictive.
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And again, for us really be a full ban for most
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people and particularly for Latinas and for other women of color,
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definitely it's like pressed against time.
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We're going back. Yeah.
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And also Nicole, the court said there is no basis under
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the privacy clause to invalidate the abortion bans.
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How was this a privacy issue according to Florida law?
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Well, before when we talk about matters that are private to
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a citizen. Abortion used to be included in that.
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And that had been sort of like the interpretation of the court
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over and over over the years,
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what this decision did saying was reverse that,
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essentially saying that abortion was not protected under that clause,
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basically insinuating that it's not a private matter of,
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by deciding that that's how they were able to,
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to reverse that those laws that had been passed in 2022 and
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and 2023 putting these,
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these 15 week and six week banks in,
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I know we hinted at this and we've agreed that how is
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Florida's new legislation going to disproportionately affect women of color in the
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we know specifically for Latinas and Latina folks that in Florida alone
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1.4 million Latinas are affected by the abortion bans.
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And then you have neighboring states,
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people in neighboring states who are going to Florida to get care
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they have abortion bans in their states.
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And so that proportion of people,
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it adds up to quite a,
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you know, millions of women and millions of Latinas specifically,
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we also know in a study we did recently that of the
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Latinas who are affected by these bans,
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who are the majority in this country.
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two thirds of us are economically insecure as well.
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And so that means further exacerbating poverty further exacerbating inequities that already
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exist in the community.
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Lupe. Are there any exception to Florida's latest abortion ban?
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Yes, the ban does have exceptions for rape,
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incest and fetal diagnoses.
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as well as to save the pregnant person's life.
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You know, unfortunately,
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for what we've, what we've seen in Texas and other places
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where there are really restrictive bans,
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exceptions don't appear to be solutions or,
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or actually supportive of people,
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you know, as we saw in Texas,
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there were many women who were suing the state because they
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were not allowed to get abortion care for fetal diagnoses and
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for the health of the mother.
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So it's super hard for folks to get these exceptions.
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It's really hard for them to go through with it and,
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and often we find that the States actually,
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you know, keep people from getting the care they need.
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Yeah. And, and actually to Lupe's point,
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if you want, if somebody wants to use,
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for example, the exception that they're involving assault or rape like
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a police report, it's needed,
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you know, to show evidence and most of these cases go
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under reported that that's why it's such an issue.
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And when it comes to determining,
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you know, that the health of the mother is in danger
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you know, how much is too much danger or how
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much is danger enough.
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You know, we've seen so many cases in other states where
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women are put through horrible situations because the provider doesn't feel,
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doesn't, doesn't know where to draw the line,
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doesn't feel confident in being able to do that and not,
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law enforcement on, on their door.
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Nicole. Speaking of that,
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could women seek abortions past six weeks be prosecuted?
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And how about doctors?
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Yeah. And, and that's what,
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what, what this law does,
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so it, it's not legal,
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that's, there's a cut off in,
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these services are not gonna be provided.
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That's what the law does.
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We've seen, you know,
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over, over the course of many of these bans popping up
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across different states is that they travel to the areas where it
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the cutoffs are different,
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maybe is 24 weeks or 15 weeks or,
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you know, so that's why it,
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it's just becoming so conditional for,
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you know, women and people in our country to get this
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this care. Last question,
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Nicole, this is a presidential election year.
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How is this expected to affect voter turnout since we're on this
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topic? It can be a lot easier,
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especially for younger voters to rally behind issues and causes.
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So this presents an opportunity that maybe somebody was on the fence
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about voting because, you know,
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they don't feel happy with the party system or they don't feel
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happy about any of the candidates running.
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Thank you both so much for being on the show and explaining
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this difficult topic. And how can our audience find you
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both online and you could find my organization at Latina Institute on
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Instagram, Twitter, Facebook,
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et cetera. You can find me on Twitter or,
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well X but you know,
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for me it's Twitter at Nicole Marie underscore A and you
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can follow our coverage at NBC Latino NBC News.
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so much for your time.
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Thank you for covering the story.
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