Florida top court allows for near-total abortion ban; says voters can decide issue in November
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(Reuters) Florida’s top court on Monday cleared the way for a Republican-backed law banning abortion after six weeks of pregnancy to take effect, but also approved an initiative to let voters decide whether to amend the state’s constitution to establish a right to an abortion.

In a pair of rulings, the Florida Supreme Court upheld an existing law that banned abortion after 15 weeks, and by doing so, cleared the way for a six-week ban to take effect.

However, the court also dismissed an effort by the state’s Republican attorney general to prevent an initiative from appearing on the November ballot, giving voters the chance to decide whether there should be a right to an abortion.

“We decline to encroach on the prerogative to amend their constitution that the people have reserved to themselves,” the court said in one of the rulings.

Abortion is illegal after 15 weeks in Florida under a law signed by Governor Ron DeSantis in 2022, two months before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned its landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that had legalized the procedure nationwide.