Copying Conditional Formatting Border Color Using Absolute Referenced Merged Cells

So I have a conditional formatting rule that generates a pink fill & red border around a group of merged cells. Because they are merged, I have to use absolute cell referencing to get the border to show around the whole range of merged cells. The conditional formatting is applied based on data input into the cell immediately above it in the column (which is also a range of merged cells).

I have 100 other merged cells I need to copy this formatting rule to, but the rule for each of these cells needs to reference the cell directly above it to determine if the formatting needs to be applied. I have found I can successfully do this, but NOT when I'm using absolute cell referencing in the original cell I'm copying the rule from.

So for instance, the cell fill color will show as pink, and the border as red, but the border won't wrap all the way around the merged cells. If I try and copy a conditional format rule that uses absolute cell referencing, the rule applied to the pasted cells will only reference cell locations from the original rule in the original cell.

Thus, the only way I see getting this done is to copy the conditional formatting rule (without absolute cell reference), and then go in and manually change each of the 100 other cell's rule formula to add "$" where applicable. I want to avoid this by any means necessary.

Any way to get this done?

Here is my conditional formatting rule:

=AND($J$14>0,$J$18="")

J18 is the cell the rule is being applied to. If that cell is empty, and J14 (the cell immediately above it) has a date in it, the formatting will engage.

Cell J18 is a merged range of $J$18:$J$21

Cell J14 is a merged range of $J$14:$J$17