Supreme Court leaked draft opinion on Roe v. Wade stuns abortion supporters and opponents

Southwest Florida officials on both sides of the abortion debate are absorbing what could soon be the end of the national right to abortion.

Protesters took to the streets in Lee and Collier counties Tuesday evening.

And in a letter Tuesday to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, the Tallahassee-based grassroots organization, Florida Voice for the Unborn, is calling on the governor to amend the May 23 special Legislative session to include legislation to prohibit all abortions in the state.

“Gov. DeSantis must act to save Florida’s unborn children,” executive director Andrew Shirvell said in a statement. “How DeSantis responds at this historic moment in time will forever cement his legacy. On behalf of Florida’s voiceless unborn, I pray that he rises to the occasion.”

Previously: Texas abortion ban heats up debate in Florida: How available is abortion now?

Subscribers: Doctors say abortion ban at 15 weeks in Florida is 'bad medicine and bad policy'

Stephanie Fraim, president and chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida, said the U.S. Supreme Court’s plan to overturn Roe v. Wade is stunning but not a surprise.

The Supreme Court confirmed Tuesday that the leaked draft opinion that Politico had obtained a day earlier is authentic but said no final decision has been made. Overturning Roe would put abortion access into state control.

Politico said the draft opinion was circulated about two months after oral arguments.

Fraim said Roe’s fate has been in peril for quite some time even though Americans and Florida voters support abortion rights.

In February, the Public Opinion Research Lab, based on the University of North Florida, released poll findings that 57% of Florida voters disapproved of prohibiting abortion after 15 weeks. The sample poll was 685 voters who were polled from Feb. 7-20.

“The Supreme Court is so casual and uncaring about what the American people have said they wanted,” Fraim said. “It is stunning and the consequences are going to be serious and in some cases dire.”

In January: Anti-abortion protesters arrested after blocking entry to Fort Myers Planned Parenthood

Abortions in Florida

In Florida last year, nearly 80,000 abortions were performed, according to data from the state Agency for Health Care Administration.

The data shows more than 59,000 abortions were listed as elective, for 74% of the total, while nearly 17,000 abortions were done for social or economic reasons and 1,500 were done for the psychological health of the mother.

States like Florida, Texas, Mississippi and Oklahoma are stripping women of their right to abortion and they will be forced to carry to term unwanted pregnancies or “self manage abortion” and that is cruel, Fraim said.

In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis in mid-April signed into law a 15-week abortion ban that dramatically reduces the window for women to get an abortion from the current law of 24 weeks of pregnancy. The new law takes effect July 1.

New law: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signs Mississippi-style abortion ban into law

The new Florida law does not provide an exception for rape, incest, human trafficking or mental health.

The only exceptions to the new Florida law is when the mother is at risk of death, "irreversible physical impairment" or if the fetus has a fatal abnormality.

One of Florida’s leading pro-life organizations, the Florida Family Policy Council, said in a statement that the leaked document appears to be an actual draft of an opinion that is often circulated between justices in order for them to provide responses back and forth.

“This leak itself is the grossest and highest violation of confidentiality for the Supreme Court.” John Stemberger, president of the Florida council, said in a statement. “This is an extremely serious breach which severely damages the High Court in terms of the trust between the justices themselves and their staff.

But Stemberger also said “this is the moment that we have been working for our entire lives.”

Overturning Roe would not be the end to the anti-abortion movement but simply the beginning, he said.

“We need to show that we can create a world where we can love children and not kill them,” he said, adding that adoption is always the better option.

“This is our opportunity to now make the grisly practice of abortion, like slavery, unthinkable in a civilized, modern society,” he said.

In Southwest Florida, abortions were stopped at Planned Parenthood location in Naples during the pandemic and women are still being sent to the Planned Parenthood in Fort Myers, Fraim said.

“Demand is off the chart,” she said. “They are coming from Texas to Tampa.”

Texas passed one of the strictest abortion laws in the country last year that makes it illegal for a physician to perform an abortion if they detect a fetal heartbeat, which is usually found at around six weeks of pregnancy.

Pregnant women in Texas seeking abortions are leaving their state to access abortion and some are coming to Florida, and that means clinics are seeing a surge, Fraim said.

Some women go to Jacksonville and then go wherever they can get the procedure, including as far south as Sarasota and Fort Myers, she said.

Protests crop up in SWFL

In Lee County Tuesday evening, dozens of people turned out to protest outside the federal courthouse in downtown Fort Myers — some from each side of the issue. For about about two hours, the anti-abortion and pro-choice demonstrators chanted and argued loudly with each other.

Further south, nearly 50 people attended an impromptu rally in front of the Collier County Courthouse.

They were part of a nationwide effort called upon by the Women’s March organization to “Show Up For Abortion Rights,” by protesting at a local courthouse or in front of the Supreme Court building in Washington DC.

The group met in front of the courthouse briefly before marching towards the street in front of the Collier County Government Center.

As women, men and children lined the street, they held signs that read, “Forced Birth Rapes Women Twice,” “Leave Roe Alone,” “Ruth sent me,” and “Never go back” with a picture of a wire hanger.

Dozens of passing cars honked in support as they drove by, with some raising their fist in the air. Deputies with the Collier County Sheriff's Office stood nearby as they flew a drone above the protesters.

Erika Ferrari, president of the Democratic Women’s Club of Collier, said the wire hanger on her poster represents a darker time in the past when women were forced to perform their own abortions. “Many got ill, or died, it was very dangerous, especially for poor women who couldn’t afford special treatment from their doctors,” she said.

Hailey Shapiro, a sophomore at Barron Collier High School said she learned about the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion Monday night on social media. “It’s crazy how those in power can strip women of their rights overnight. Changing our lives forever,” she said.

“It’s so scary,” said Valentina Guzman, a fellow Barron Collier student.

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Roe V. Wade: Supreme Court leaked opinion would give states abortion control