Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch led a coalition of 19 Attorneys General in filing an amicus brief in the Supreme Court of Florida in the case of Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida v. State of Florida.
“In the Dobbs case, the U.S. Supreme Court made it clear that the issue of abortion is a matter to be decided by the people and their legislators, not the courts,” said Lynn Fitch. “We urge the court to respect the will of the people and reject any attempt to undermine the democratic process.”
Planned Parenthood brought the underlying case, seeking injunctive relief against House Bill 5, which prohibits abortions after 15 weeks’ gestation, with exceptions for life, health, and fetal abnormality. They base their case on the Florida Constitution’s Privacy Clause.
Following the Dobbs decision, some states have adopted tighter restrictions while others maintained or embraced more permissive abortion laws. The brief notes, however, “In some states, the decision to adopt a permissive abortion regime has been made not by the people or legislators, but by courts.”
The Attorneys General argued, “This raises serious problems. It imposes on the people a regime that they never embraced, puts courts at the center of a political and moral issue that they can never resolve, and undermines our democratic tradition. It replicates at the state level the problems that Dobbs recently dispensed with at the federal level.”
The brief continues, “Unless and until the people take the matter away from the legislature through a constitutional amendment that addresses abortion, this Court should let the legislature’s decisions stand.” The Attorneys General urged the court to “make clear that the hard issue of abortion is for the people” and reject the injunctive relief against HB 5.
Joining Fitch were the Attorneys General from Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia.
