Biden Blasts Florida Supreme Court Over Abortion Ruling

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden did not mince words Tuesday as he blasted a Florida Supreme Court ruling in which it said the state constitution does not protect abortion rights, in the process allowing one of the strictest abortion bans in the country to take effect May 1.

In a statement released by the White House Tuesday morning, Biden slammed Monday’s action by the court as “outrageous,” and added the “extreme decision puts desperately needed medical care even further out of reach for millions of women in Florida and across the South.”

“The court not only upheld Florida’s current ban on women being able to make their own reproductive choices, it will likely trigger Gov. [Ron] DeSantis’ even more extreme law that would prevent women from accessing care before many even know they are pregnant,” the president said.

In a separate statement, Vice President Kamala Harris also weighed in, saying the decision means millions of women in Florida and across the Southeast will now have to confront a new “cruel reality,” one in which they’ll “face a choice between putting their lives at risk or traveling hundreds or thousands of miles to get care.”

The case decided by the court on Monday had challenged the constitutionality of the state’s 15-week ban on abortion, a measure that took effect in the summer of 2022.

But the consequences of the proceedings deepened last spring, after the state legislature passed an even stricter law banning almost all abortions after six weeks of pregnancy — a point at which many women are unaware that they are pregnant.

The law does include exceptions for rape, incest, complications causing the death of the fetus and medical emergencies in which the mother’s life is in danger.

In crafting the new restrictions, lawmakers acknowledged the review of the earlier ban was ongoing by specifically including language that said the six-week ban would only take effect if the 15-week ban was upheld.

In their ruling, the justices of the Florida Supreme Court focused on whether a privacy provision added to the Florida Constitution effectively blocked the implementation of abortion restrictions.

The court held that there was “no basis under the Privacy Clause to invalidate the [15-week] statute.”

“In doing so, we recede from our prior decisions in which — relying on reasoning the U.S. Supreme Court has rejected — we held that the Privacy Clause guaranteed the right to receive an abortion through the end of the second trimester,” said Justice Jamie Grosshans, writing for the court.

But critics of the decision, like Biden, said the implications of the bans sanctioned by Florida and put in place by Republican officials in several other states, extend far beyond the issue of privacy.

“These bans are putting the health and lives of millions of women at risk,” the president said. “These extreme laws take away women’s freedom to make their own health care decisions and threaten physicians with jail time simply for providing the medical care that they were trained to provide.”

If there was any consolation about the ruling, it was that in a separate decision handed down Monday, the Florida Supreme Court also ruled a proposed amendment to enshrine abortion rights in the state’s constitution can go on the November ballot.

That means voters could strike down the abortion ban at the polls just seven months from now.

In the meantime, the two rulings ensure that abortion will be front and center in Florida during the 2024 election.

Biden acknowledged that by saying he and the vice president “stand with the vast majority of Americans who support a woman’s right to choose, including in Florida, where voters will have the opportunity to make their voices heard in support of a reproductive freedom ballot initiative this November. 

“We remain steadfast in our commitment to protecting reproductive freedom in Florida and across the nation and will continue to call on Congress to pass a law restoring the protections of Roe v. Wade in every state,” Biden said.

Harris, meanwhile, wasted no time in taking the gloves off and going after the presumptive Republican Presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump.

“[He] created this health care crisis, and he has no plans to stop now,” Harris said.

“For Donald Trump, it is not enough that more than 1 in 3 women of reproductive age in America live in a state with a ban. It is not enough that millions of women in America have fewer rights than their mothers and grandmothers,” she continued.

“Yet, if Donald Trump has his way, he’ll gut abortion care in every state across the country — and he has the plans to do it. President Biden and I will do everything in our power to stop him and restore women’s reproductive freedom,” Harris said.

Also anticipating the road ahead was Lauren Brenzel, campaign director for Floridians Protecting Freedom, a group that fought to get the abortion amendment on the state ballot in 2024.

“Today, the court affirmed what we’ve known all along: that Amendment 4 clearly satisfies the requirements for placement on the ballot,” Brenzel said in a written statement.

“Today’s ruling also underscores the crucial role of Florida’s ballot initiative process, which provides voters an important opportunity to take the reins when politicians aren’t representing our interests,” she continued. 

“Floridians saw the legislature pass a 15-week and then a six-week abortion ban and this is our chance to engage in direct democracy to stop these unpopular and harmful policies.

“We will work every day to build on the already unprecedented grassroots support this campaign has received from allied organizations, volunteers, and funders to educate voters and strengthen public support ahead of the election,” Brenzel said.

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