Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody’s office is seeking to recover nearly $103,000 in legal costs from plaintiffs in a challenge to a 2015 law that imposed a 24-hour waiting period for abortions in Florida.
Leon County Circuit Judge Angela Dempsey issued a ruling in April that upheld the law after years of legal battling. The plaintiffs, clinic operator Gainesville Woman Care, LLC, and the group Medical Students for Choice, argued that the waiting period would violate a privacy right in the Florida Constitution that has long played a crucial role in abortion cases.
But Dempsey rejected that argument. Moody’s office filed a motion Wednesday that said as the “prevailing party,” the state is entitled to recover $102,891 from the plaintiffs.
That total includes such expenses as expert-witness fees and transcript costs, according to the motion. It also said the state reserves “the right to seek recovery of future costs that arise in connection with any appeal from the final judgment.”
A temporary injunction had blocked the waiting-period law from taking effect until Dempsey’s ruling.
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