How will the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade affect Florida?

More than a dozen states have trigger laws in place that will now automatically ban abortions. Florida is not among them.

However, a new abortion law that would ban almost all abortions after 15 weeks is still set to go into effect on July 1.

There is still the possibility of at least a temporary pause on it before then.

Earlier this month, two lawsuits were filed, one of them on behalf of abortion providers, arguing the law violates Florida’s constitutional privacy rights.

Some legal experts say it goes beyond the federal privacy rights at the heart of Roe v. Wade.

Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren is among those sharing that opinion. He sat down with Spectrum Bay News 9’s Cait McVey for an interview. Below is the transcript of the interview, and you can also watch it above.

Cait McVey:  Thanks for sitting down with us today Andrew. We appreciate it. We’re here to talk about the lawsuit brought forth by Planned Parenthood and some other clinics. Initially all state attorneys were named in it. Now you’ve been removed. Talk to me about why.

Andrew Warren: Of course. So let’s take a step back for a moment.  Earlier this year, the legislature and the Governor prohibits abortions at 15 weeks. Which is two months before the scientifically accepted point of viability, which is what Florida law previously allowed. Now all the state attorneys have been dismissed by the judge because if a law is unconstitutional, we are going to be bound by that ruling and no state attorney is going to enforce and unconstitutional law.

Cait McVey: When we talk about the argument about whether or not it’s unconstitutional, Planned Parenthood and the other clinics state it violates Florida’s constitutional privacy law. Do you think that’s a legitimate argument?

Andrew Warren: It’s absolutely a legitimate argument and frankly, that federal right is totally different from the state right. Because in 1980, Floridians passed a constitutional amendment that gives an expressed right to privacy and they did it on purpose to go beyond what the federal constitution and the federal law says.  

Cait McVey: If the courts do uphold it, providers under this new law could face criminal charges. That doesn’t mean just a fine. This is prison time. Would you have any discretion in who you would go after? Are you able to say I’m not going to? What does that process look like?

Andrew Warren: Well prosecutors always have discretions.  Because our job is about public safety and about fairness. So if there is a violation of a law that prosecuting it protects public safety, we should go forward. If there’s a fairness argument, we have to consider that. And frankly, we have to make those determinations right now as the law currently is, which prohibits abortions past the point of viability in the third trimester. So moving up the date, whether it’s 27 weeks or 15 weeks, really doesn’t change what prosecutors do. The bigger picture is different however. What we need to look at is this law is criminalizing, potentially, private medical decisions made between a woman and her doctor and the decision to end a pregnancy is the most difficult  and personal and private decision that a person can make.  When we are, in certain circumstances saying we are violating this woman’s freedom, a not just…it’s a crime by prison to violate that freedom, that’s something we have to be really careful about.

Cait McVey: Your job is though, is to uphold the law. So if this law, that goes into affect July 1st stands, don’t you have an obligation to follow through, despite discretion.

Andrew Warren:  Well this law is set to go into affect July 1st. But this law, as written, is clearly unconstitutional.  Now if the Florida Supreme Court changes what it said for the past 40 years, then state attorneys have a big decision to make. But at this point, on it’s face, the law is clearly unconstitutional.

Cait McVey: Alright, thank you for your time Andrew, we appreciate it.