Manatee County Commissioners will not be allowed to initiate a local ban on abortion.
In September, commissioners sent a letter to Attorney General Ashley Moody asking for legal guidance on whether a local ordinance could be carried out.
Manatee County Attorney William Clague received a response which he shared with commissioners Monday.
In a letter, Moody's legal staff wrote that Manatee County is not authorized to adopt a local ordinance because it would be pre-empted by Florida law.
Manatee County Commissioner James Satcher first brought up the issue in June after Texas passed a law banning abortions as early as six weeks into pregnancy.
Since then, Republican state representative Webster Barnaby has filed a similar bill ahead of the state's next legislative session, which begins in January.
