ORLANDO, Fla. – A high stakes hearing will soon be underway in Tallahassee as the Florida Supreme Court is set to hear arguments on whether Floridians will able to vote on a new state law that guarantees abortion access.
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A rights group called Progress Florida collected enough signatures to bring the issue directly to voters.
“Extreme abortion bans force people to leave the state just to access healthcare and this amendment would limit that interference,” Cheyenne Drews with Progress Florida said.
The state Supreme Court will have to approve the wording in Amendment Four.
It reads, in part, “no law shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient’s health, as determined by the patient’s healthcare provider.”
At a news conference on Tuesday, doctors weighed in on the issue.
“Politicians have no place in the exam rooms when patients are making these really personal and private decisions about their reproductive health,” said St. Petersburg immunologist Dr. Mona Mangat.
Attorney General Ashley Moody disagrees.
“I happen to believe, very passionately, that life needs to be protected and that lawmakers should have the ability to do that.”
Five of the seven Florida Supreme Court justices were appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, who endorses the abortion restrictions.
Wednesday’s hearing on the proposed amendment begins at 9 a.m.
Florida SWAT sniper shoots, kills man who was holding hostages at bank
An attempted bank robbery ends with a man dead in Southwest Florida.
According to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, a SWAT sniper shot and killed the suspect as he was holding two hostages at knifepoint.
The sheriff announced during a press conference that Sterling Ramon Alavache, 36, entered the Bank of America near South Fort Myers on Tuesday and made a bomb threat before taking those hostages.
Investigators say they tried multiple times to negotiate with the man before ultimately entering the bank.
None of the hostages were hurt.
Florida to conduct statewide tornado drill
Lots of Floridians will get a tornado warning on their phones from the National Weather Service.
It’s a practice run meant to prepare everyone for severe weather. The statewide tornado drill will start around 10 a.m.
That’s when officials want people to take shelter in an enclosed space just as you would during a real warning.
Many school districts, private schools and preschools may be taking part in the drill and several local cities are encouraging everyone to participate but, of course, it is voluntary.
Random Florida Fact
A geological formation, called the Anastasia Formation, is completely unique to Florida’s east coast.
The Anastasia Formation was formed tens of thousands of years ago is made up of quartz sands, coquina with the occasional fossil.
You can find a version of this formation at Blowing Rocks Preserve just south of Hobe Sound.
Up in St. Johns County, coquina taken from the formation on Anastasia Island was used to build Castillo de San Marcos fort since it was relatively easy to extract and proved to be effective for absorbing cannon damage.