Florida House passes 6-week abortion ban

() — The Florida House of Representatives on Thursday approved a bill that would ban most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. Ron DeSantis indicated his support for the project as he prepares to enter the 2024 Republican presidential primaries.

The bill would make Florida one of the most restrictive states in the country on abortion, and adds to moves by other Republican-led states to quickly halt the procedure since the US Supreme Court reversed it. the case Roe v. Wade last summer.

The measure, which passed the state Senate on April 3, now heads to DeSantis’s desk for approval.

Under the bill, most abortions in Florida would be prohibited after six weeks. Opponents of the legislation have argued that six weeks is before many women know they are pregnant.

“Let’s be clear about the silent part: They just don’t want women to have a choice,” House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell, D-Tampa, said Thursday during debate on the law.

Under the law, victims of rape, incest, and human trafficking can have an abortion up to 15 weeks pregnant if they present a restraining order, police report, medical history, or other evidence.

The bill would also prohibit doctors from prescribing an abortion via telehealth and would require abortion medication to be distributed by a doctor, not by mail.

Supporters of the law said that in this way they protect life.

“A woman’s right to choose, I’ve heard people talk about it. Well, that right to choose begins before she has sex,” state Rep. Kiyan Michael, R-Jacksonville, said Thursday. “It shouldn’t be after having sex.”

Thursday’s debate began just after 9 a.m. and lasted more than seven hours as Democrats, firmly in the minority in the Florida legislature, introduced dozens of amendments aimed at mitigating the impact of the bill. and to protest the likely end to tens of thousands of legal abortions in the state each year. The amendments did not prosper and the Republicans asserted their special majority to pass the law with 70 votes in favor and 40 against.

Following the bill’s passage by the state Senate last week, protests broke out at the Tallahassee State Capitol, leading to the arrest of Florida Democratic Party Chairperson Nikki Fried and Minority Leader in the Senate, Lauren Book.

Thursday’s vote comes at a time when the national abortion debate has intensified again after a Texas judge ordered a suspension of the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of an abortion drug. , for its acronym in English). A federal appeals court has put parts of the order on hold, and the Justice Department has asked the US Supreme Court to intervene in the litigation. The Florida vote also follows the decisive victory of a liberal candidate in a Wisconsin Supreme Court race earlier this month, in which the future of abortion access took center stage and mobilized Democratic participation.

Although DeSantis signaled his support for new abortion restrictions in Florida, the typically outspoken governor has remained unusually secretive about where he thinks lawmakers should draw the line.

Asked at a press conference in March if he supported exemptions for rape and incest up to 15 weeks, DeSantis called it “sensible” and said he would “welcome pro-life legislation,” but quickly moved on.

As a gubernatorial candidate in 2018, DeSantis indicated that he would support legislation that would ban abortion after a heartbeat is detected.

DeSantis signed a ban on abortion at 15 weeks last year, which did not include exceptions for rape, incest or human trafficking. Under the law, a pregnancy cannot be terminated after 15 weeks unless the mother is at serious risk or a fatal fetal abnormality is detected. Two doctors must confirm the diagnosis in writing.

Planned Parenthood and other abortion rights groups sued to strike down the law. The case is currently before the Florida Supreme Court, which has refused to block the law, for now.

For decades, Florida courts have blocked legislative attempts to restrict abortion in the state.

The state Supreme Court ruled in 1989 that the privacy clause of the state constitution “is clearly implicated in a woman’s decision whether or not to continue her pregnancy.”

Those protections made Florida a sanctuary for women seeking abortions across the South for years, while neighboring states moved over time to restrict the procedure. In 2020, Florida recorded 19.1 legal abortions per 1,000 women, the highest rate of any state in the country.

However, the composition of the Florida Supreme Court has changed considerably in recent years, and is now heavily shaped by DeSantis’s conservative influence. The governor named four of the six regular judges and will name a fifth to succeed Judge Ricky Polston, who resigned last month.

Should DeSantis pass the latest legislation, the six-week ban would not go into effect until the state Supreme Court overturns its previous abortion ruling.

The state does not publish data on the number of pregnancies terminated during the first six weeks. In 2022, there were more than 82,000 abortions in Florida, according to the Florida Agency for Health Administration, with the vast majority occurring in the first trimester.