The Florida Supreme Court issued two decisions on abortion this week.
Decision One, the Court approved a ban on abortion after six weeks, one of the strictest bans in the nation. Few women realize they are pregnant at that point.
Decision Two, in a 4-3 vote, the Supreme Court agreed to allow a state referendum this November on enshrining abortion rights in the state constitution. The referendum must receive 60% approval or it won’t be adopted. About one million signed the petition requesting the vote.
Also in this November’s election, two of the three judges who voted NOT to allow the referendum will be on the ballot. The two who will stand for election are Justice Renatha Francis and Justice Meredith Sasso. Governor DeSantis, an outspoken opponent of abortion, appointed five of the seven justices on the Florida Supreme Court, including these two justices.
The Miami Herald reported:
In Florida, it’s standard for Supreme Court justices to face a retention vote shortly after their appointment, and no Supreme Court justice has ever been voted out, which requires only a simple majority. But [Justice Renatha] Francis and Justice Meredith Sasso — who along with Justice Jamie Grosshans dissented in the 4 – 3 decision — have the unique distinction of sharing a ballot with a polarizing and high-profile constitutional amendment they wanted to keep from the electorate.
Supporters of reproductive rights have the opportunity to remove two judges who voted to block the referendum.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
If only this weren’t a “fix what is as bad as it gets” story.
In Missouri the ban is not after 6 weeks. It’s 0 weeks changed from 6 the day after the SC decision.
The initiative petition rules are still being debated as signatures are being collected.
The right knows the data and polls so their supermajority wants to make it almost impossible to amend the Constitution. They want a super-minority of the people (with their deep pockets to elect “their” legislators) to impose their beliefs on the overwhelming majority of the people from all parties.
At least until one of their issues requires a Constitutional amendment and they change the rules again.
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When you say 0 weeks, I’m guessing that is supposed to mean abortion is banned at any time.
When calculating the profression of a pregnancy, two weeks prior to conception is counted as the first two weeks of pregnancy. In other words, the pregnancy clock begins at the time of ovulation when a woman is not even pregnant. Therefore, four weeks after conception is considered the sixth week of pregnancy.
This illuminates the lunacy of the Florida decision.
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Please ignore the typo “profression” which is supposed to be “progression.” I wish we could edit our comments…
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I hope Democrats in Florida understand all the consequences of this election. They will need to show up and vote in unprecedented numbers along with independents since there are now more registered Republicans than Democrats in the state. Voter suppression is part of the right wing plan as well. Even if the referendum passes, DeSantis and his legislative toadies will try to figure out a way to impede its implementation. It likely that right wing extremists will try to find a way to keep “democracy in chains.”
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I have absolutely no confidence in Florida voters, that they will do the sane and sensible thing. After all, Florida voters reelected DeSantis with a very wide margin. The Florida electorate keeps voting against their own best interests and for clowns like Ron the Con artist.
Side note: I was shaken to consciousness by an earthquake this morning (in central NJ). My bed shook violently for about 15 or 20 seconds. Earthquakes are great alarm clocks, who knew. Thank goodness there was no damage that I can ascertain, I’m just waiting for the aftershocks.
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The Ramapo fault goes through the mountains in central and north Jersey. I lived in north Jersey near the Ramapo mountains for many years. We had a few quakes during that time.
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Also in Central Jersey. Our spring break was cut short in my district, so I was in teaching on the stage in a building almost as old as I am at 10:23 this morning. It felt like a lot of hurricane-force wind, but my students and I didn’t feel any actual shaking. Good structure and only one floor, so that could be why.
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The structure does seem to matter. I was on the 30th floor of an office building in Manhattan and it felt like I was bungee jumping.
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!!!
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Oh, how awful. I’m fortunate to have escaped that feeling.
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