Numerous abortion facilities have filed a lawsuit on June 1 against the state over the recently passed Florida House Bill 5 which bans abortions after 15-weeks of gestation. The complaint alleges that House Bill 5 “criminalizes pre-viability abortions in direct violation of Floridians’ fundamental privacy rights guaranteed by the Florida Constitution”. Signers of the filed complaint includes Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida, Planned Parenthood of South, East and North Florida, Gainesville Woman Care, LLC, A Woman’s Choice of Jacksonville, Inc., Indian Rocks Woman’s Center, Inc., and others.

The introductory language of the bill states that it is “An act relating to reducing fetal and infant mortality…” through educational programs, as well as new procedures for a Health Department committee to make comprehensive reports on what medical services have been performed along with other data and recommendations to the governor and government officials.

This bill has also changed their definition of the word “gestation” to mean a period of 15 weeks since a person’s last period and not between fertilization and birth, as well as to change “fatal fetal anomaly” to include less circumstances than previously stated among other changes.

The lawsuit aims to have the Court deem the bill void due to the violation of the right to privacy protected under the Florida Constitution, and to expunge the language used to define “gestation” and “fatal fetal abnormalities” as it is considered unconstitutional as it currently is.