A retired Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice criticized a recent state court ruling that will allow a six-week abortion ban to take effect, describing the decision as "indefensible" and "troubling," in an op-ed published on Monday.
Florida's Supreme Court issued the landmark decision last week, while simultaneously allowing for a November referendum that could enshrine the right to an abortion in the state's constitution.
The original Supreme Court case dealt with a challenge regarding the constitutionality of a 15-week ban. By the start of next month, however, a six-week ban with some exceptions, will go into effect.
"In approving the amendment to be placed on the ballot at the same time that it upheld Florida's abortion bans, the court angered those who support a woman's right to choose as well as those who are opposed to abortion," retired Justice Barbara Pariente wrote in Slate.
"Most likely the latter groups embrace the notion that fetuses are human beings and have rights that deserve to be protected."
Pariente urged Floridians to vote to protect abortion rights, in November. Since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, pro-choice advocates have consistently won at the ballot box on abortion rights issues - even in deep red states, with anti-abortion leaders.
The issue has divided Republican leadership, with many blaming the GOP's underperformance in the midterms on abortion rights rollbacks. Presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump even released a statement on Monday affirming that he is opposed to abortion but arguing that the issue needs to be left up to the states to decide.
Pariente served on the Florida Supreme Court from 1997 until she was constitutionally mandated to retire in 2019. During her tenure on the Supreme Court, there were other legal challenges to abortion in the Sunshine State but with decidedly different outcomes than the most recent ruling.
"Whether Florida's Constitution provided a right to privacy that encompassed abortion was never questioned, even by those who would have been deemed the most conservative justices-almost all white men back in 1989," she wrote.
"And strikingly, one of the conservative justices at that time stated: 'If the United States Supreme Court were to subsequently recede from Roe v. Wade, this would not diminish the abortion rights now provided by the privacy amendment of the Florida Constitution.'"
The retired Chief Justice also took issue with several DeSantis appointees on the Supreme Court who raised objections to legal abortion because fetuses are protected by human rights provisions within the Constitution.
"Most troubling, it was the three recently elevated Gov. Ron DeSantis appointees-all women-who expressed their views that the voters should not be allowed to vote on the amendment because it could impact the rights of the unborn child," Pariente wrote.
"In other words, the three dissenting justices would recognize that fetuses are included in who is a 'natural person' under Florida's Constitution."
