Fetal Personhood Fight Spurred by Florida Abortion Ballot Ruling

The Florida Supreme Court has primed abortion opponents to seek broad fetal personhood protections, and litigators on both sides of an abortion rights ballot measure say the legal battles over pregnancy termination have only just begun.

Proponents of fetal personhood—the concept that law protects fetuses to the same extent it protects children once born—received a jolt of energy Monday in a mixed set of decisions from the state high court. The justices on one hand rejected challenges to Florida’s 15-week and six-week abortion bans. While a separate ruling allowed an abortion rights amendment to go before voters in November, ...