Next Saturday, June 24, marks one year since the decision of the United States Supreme Court to overthrow the Roe v. Wade ruling, which passed restrictions on the right to abortion into the hands of the states.
Since then the Florida legislature has tried to further restrict abortion, while pro-choice advocates fight to stop the restrictions.
In Miami, several Democratic leaders and activists called a press conference to mark the anniversary of that historic change in abortion laws in the United States and affirm that for them in Florida the fight has only begun.
The end of the national right to abortion sparked protests across the nation, and in Florida the change has had a real impact.
Two months before the US Supreme Court decision, the Florida legislature approved restricting abortion to 15 weeks with no exceptions. And in the next session with a super Republican majority, they voted in favor of changing that restriction to 6 weeks, with exceptions in cases of rape or incest.
The 15-week law remains in effect until the Florida Supreme Court rules on a challenge to the law filed by various organizations including Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union.
Now activists and pro-choice organizations are going to count directly on voters to change the direction Florida is headed.
This effort is being carried out by a coalition of groups under the name “Floridians Protecting Freedom” in the first month they have collected 300,000 of the 900,000 signatures needed to consider putting the abortion question on the ballot so that the voters decide.
