IN THE COURT OF THE SECOND CIRCUIT OF THE STATE OF FLORIDAIN AND FOR LEON COUNTY, FLORIDAGENERATION TO GENERATION, INC., a religious non-profit organization in Palm Beach County, Florida, d/b/a
Congregation L’Dor Va-Dor, on behalf of itself, its congregants, its members, its supporters and their families,Plaintiff,v.THE STATE OF FLORIDA; RON DeSANTIS, in his official capacity as Governor of the State of Florida, JACK CAMPBELL, in his official capacity as State Attorney for the Second Judicial Circuit of Florida; DAVID A. ARONBERG, in his official capacity as State Attorney for the Fifteenth Judicial district of Fla, FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, JOSEPH LADAPO, M.D. in his official capacity as Secretary of Health for the State of Florida, FLORIDA BOARD OF MEDICINE; DAVID DIAMOND, M.D. in his official capacity as Chair of the Florida Board of Medicine; FLORIDA BOARD OF OSTEOPATHIC MEDICINE; SANDRA SCHWEMMER, D.O. in her official capacity as Chair of the Florida Board of Osteopathic medicine; FLORIDA BOARD OF NURSING, MAGGIE HANSSEN, M.H.S, R.N. in her official capacity as Chair of the Florida Board of Nursing; FLORIDA AGENCY FOR HEALTH CARE ADMINISTRATION, SIMONE MARSTILLER, J.D. in her official capacity as Secretary of the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration, and ASHLEY MOODY, in her official capacity as ATTORNEY GENERAL for the State of Florida. Defendants.
Filing # 151264228 E-Filed 06/10/2022 01:14:56 PM
COMPLAINT FOR DECLARATORY RELIEF AND FOR TEMPORARY AND PERMANENT INJUNCTION DECLARING HOUSE BILL 5, INVALID UNCONSTITUTIONAL AND UNENFORCEABLE
I.PRELIMINARY STATEMENT
1.Over a generation ago, the people of Florida amended the Florida Constitution to guarantee Floridians a broad right of privacy, including the right to abortion. Art. I, § 23, Fla. Const. This “independent, freestanding constitutional provision which declares the fundamental right to privacy” was drafted “in order to make the privacy right as strong as possible,”
Winfield v. Div. of Pari-Mutuel Wagering
, 477 So. 2d 544, 548 (Fla. 1985), and to “embrace more privacy interests, and extend more protection to the individual in those interests, than does the federal Constitution,”
In re T.W.
, 551 So. 2d 1186, 1192 (Fla. 1989). The Florida Supreme Court has always held that this broad right to privacy includes a woman’s right to terminate a pregnancy. “The Florida Constitution embodies the principle that ‘[f]ew decisions are more personal and intimate, more properly private, or more basic to individual dignity and autonomy, than a woman’s decision . . . whether to end her pregnancy. A woman’s right to make that choice freely is fundamental.’”
Id.
at 1193 (quoting
Thornburgh v. Am. Coll. of Obstetricians & Gynecologists
, 476 U.S. 747 (1986)). Floridians have consistently reaffirmed that abortion is a fundamental right deserving of the strongest protection against government intrusion. In 2012, Floridians rejected a ballot initiative that would have amended the state constitution to overturn precedent by construing the right to privacy narrowly to prohibit state courts from interpreting the Florida Constitution to provide stronger protection for abortion than the federal constitution.
11
Fla. Dep’t of State, Div. of Elections,
Initiative Information: Prohibition on Public Funding of Abortions; Construction of Abortion Rights
, https://dos.elections.myflorida.com/ initiatives/fulltext/pdf/10-82.pdf (last visited May 22, 2022); Fla. Dep’t of State, Div. of Elections,
Prohibition on Public Funding of Abortions; Construction of Abortion Rights
, https://dos.elections.myflorida.com/initiatives/initdetail.asp?account=10&seqnum=82(last visited May 22, 2022).
12.In violation of the will of the people, all case precedent and Florida’s history of protecting the right to abortion as inviolate and fundamental, the Florida legislature recently passed House Bill 5, a law that criminalizes pre-viability abortions in direct violation of Floridians’ fundamental privacy rights guaranteed by the Florida Constitution.
See
Ch. 2022-69, §§ 3–4, Laws of Fla. (“HB 5” or “the Act”) (amending §§ 390.011, 390.0111, Fla. Stat.). HB 5 was signed by Governor Ron DeSantis on April 14, 2022, and it is scheduled to take effect on July 1, 2022. The Act is attached hereto as Exhibit A.3.HB 5 also violates Article 1, Section 3 of the Florida Constitution which provides “There shall be no law respecting the establishment of religion or prohibiting or penalizing the free expression thereof.” The Florida Constitution thus goes beyond the United States Constitution in its protection of religious freedom in that it adds that the free exercise of religion may not be
penalized
. Plaintiff and its members, congregants and supporters rely on Jewish law and understanding regarding abortion, which differs from the requirements of the Act, and thus, if the members, congregants and supporters of Plaintiff practice their religion regarding decisions related to abortion, they will be penalized by the state in violation of the Constitution.4.The Act establishes as the law of the State of Florida, a particular religious view about abortion and when life begins, which is contrary to the views of Plaintiff, its members, congregants, and supporters as well as many other Floridians. While the Act does not specify all the penalties for violation of its terms, the Act has been instigated across the nation by those who espouse the view that human life begins at conception, and thus equates abortion with murder. Accordingly, the penalties for violations of the Act could be grave and could include death. By failing to include all penalties for violation of the Act, the Act is unconstitutionally vague, and Floridians are left in the dark as to who will face punishment and the penalties if they exercise their religious beliefs, which has a great chilling effect upon the free exercise of religion in