FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – July 2, 2015
CONTACT: ACLU of Florida Media Office, media@aclufl.org, (786) 363-2737
TALLAHASSEE –Today Florida women won a significant victory from a Leon county judge who blocked enforcement of a restrictive abortion law while the law is under constitutional challenge by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Center for Reproductive Rights.
Leon County Circuit Judge Charles W. Dodson granted a motion to vacate the automatic stay that, by the rules of Florida procedure, was in place after the State appealed Tuesday’s temporary injunction issued by Judge Charles A. Francis. Chief Judge Francis granted the plaintiff’s motion for an emergency temporary injunction to bar enforcement of the 24-hour mandatory abortion delay law.
Responding to the court’s decision, ACLU of Florida Legal Director Nancy Abudu stated:
“Today, the court granted our motion to vacate the stay so that the status quo in regard to a woman’s right to access medical care will be preserved while we continue to challenge the State’s effort to create needless roadblocks to their healthcare decisions.
“We’re grateful that the legislature’s anti-abortion politics will not be imposed upon women during the challenge to these new restrictions, and they will not have the burden of traveling multiple times to a clinic and facing unnecessary delays to receive the care that they need."
Jennifer Lee, Staff Attorney for the national ACLU’s Reproductive Freedom Project stated:
“Today, the health and dignity of Florida women prevailed. We are grateful that the judge blocked this dangerous intrusion by politicians into the private, medical decisions of a woman, her family, and her doctor. Florida women know very well how and when to make decisions about their health care without such medically unnecessary, patronizing, violations of the Florida Constitution’s fundamental privacy right.”
A copy of the motion is available here: http://aclufl.org/?p=6836
More information about the lawsuit is available here: http://www.aclufl.org/24hrabortiondelay