As some state attorneys use ‘discretion’ on abortion, Jack Campbell vows to follow law
Democratic prosecutors and city governments in the South and Midwest are moving to keep open abortion services as their state governments move to ban or severely restrict access.
However, there does not seem to be any such movement in Florida or its capital city.
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a 15-week abortion ban in April.
Leading Republicans in Florida, including DeSantis, support a fetal heartbeat bill – in essence, a six-week ban. They are expected to pursue such legislation after the November election.
When the Supreme Court overturned a constitutional right to an abortion in the Dobbs v. Jackson decision, it sent Democratic stronghold cities in Republican-controlled states scrambling to make hypothetical restrictions intended to eliminate access.
Media outlets including the Washington Post, Axios, and The Atlantic, report prosecutors in Charlotte, Atlanta, and Indianapolis said they will not use public resources to pursue abortion providers. The New Orleans city council, meanwhile, has passed a resolution to instruct the police department not to investigate abortion providers or their patients.
The Austin city council will vote on a similar resolution next month. And Oak Park, Illinois, voted to make abortion a human right and declared the village an “abortion sanctuary.”
Jack Campbell: ‘I will always follow the law’
But in Tallahassee last week, state attorney Jack Campbell told the Tallahassee Democrat that he will prosecute violators of Florida’s 15-week abortion ban, and any further restrictions the Legislature may impose.
“I will always follow the law and feel that a failure to do so would be contrary to my oath of office,” said Campbell.
City officials and prosecutors are elected by local voters who give them discretion to decide how to police their community. Constitutional experts say that discretion serves as a check on state government power.
It is simply not possible to prosecute every crime committed in a community, Stanford law professor George Fisher told the Atlantic.
“It’s not out of line for a local prosecutor to say, “This is the law of the state, but my electorate in this county takes a different view of what the law should be, and I am answering directly to them,’” said Fisher.
After the Dobbs decision, 83 elected prosecutors nationwide signed a statement that called the criminalization of abortion care “a mockery of justice,” and committed to use their discretion to refuse to prosecute those who seek, assist, or provide an abortion.
Florida has 20 state attorneys and Hillsborough County’s Andrew Warren was the only one to sign the pledge.
In 2019, Campbell used discretion to pause the prosecution of some marijuana cases after hemp was legalized by the federal government and no test was available to differentiate hemp from marijuana.
Jack Campbell and marijuana: State Attorney Jack Campbell pausing prosecution of marijuana cases amid hemp testing issue
Later that year, when the Leon County Commission debated whether to decriminalize marijuana, Campbell opposed the move and said, “I’m using prosecutorial discretion and being as lenient as I can,” adding, “I have no choice but to follow the law of the State of Florida.”
First elected in 2016 and re-elected without opposition in 2020, Campbell explained to the Democrat that his oath of office requires him to prosecute violators of Florida’s abortion law.
“The abortion law is currently in litigation and I have specifically agreed to abide by any injunction and other rulings of the court,” said Campbell. “As the courts continue to interpret laws on abortion, I will follow their dictates.”
James Call is a member of the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at jcall@tallahassee.com. Follow on him Twitter: @CallTallahassee
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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Jack Campbell says no choice but to enforce abortion restrictions
