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Florida’s Republican-dominated Legislature on Friday approved a ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, a proposal Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has backed as he prepares for his presidential bid.
DeSantis is expected to sign the bill into law. Florida now bans abortion after 15 weeks.
The ban would give DeSantis a major political victory among Republican primary voters as he prepares to launch a presidential bid built on his national brand as a conservative standard bearer.
The policy will also have broader implications for abortion access throughout the South as the US Supreme Court’s decision last year overturned Roe v. Wade and leave the decision on abortion access to the state.
Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi ban abortions at all stages of pregnancy, while Georgia bans the procedure after cardiac activity can be detected, which is around six weeks.
“We have an opportunity to lead a national debate about the importance of protecting life and giving every child the opportunity to be born and find their purpose,” said Republican Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulicka, who carried the bill in the House.
Democrats and abortion rights groups criticized Florida’s proposal as extreme because many women don’t even know they’re pregnant until six weeks.
The bill contains several exemptions, including one to save the woman’s life. Abortion for pregnancies involving sexual assault or incest will be allowed up to 15 weeks of pregnancy, if the woman has documentation such as a restraining order or police report. DeSantis called the provision quite sensible.
The drugs used in drug-induced abortions — which make up the majority of those prescribed nationally — can only be prescribed in person or by a doctor under Florida’s bill.
Separately, national access to the abortion pill mifepristone is being challenged in court.
Florida’s six-week ban would take effect only if the state’s current 15-week ban is upheld in a legal challenge pending before the state Supreme Court, which is controlled by conservatives.
“I can’t think of a bill that would provide more protection for more vulnerable people than this legislation,” said Republican Rep. Mike Beltran, who said the bill’s exemption and six-week time frame represented a compromise.
Some restrictions have boosted Democrats
Abortion bans are popular among some religious conservatives who are part of the Republican voting base, but the issue has led many others to vote Democratic. Republicans in recent weeks and months have lost elections focused on abortion access in states such as Kentucky, Michigan and Wisconsin.
“Have we learned anything?” House Democratic Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell spoke about recent elections in other states. “Are we not listening to our constituents and the people of Florida and what they are asking for?”
DeSantis, who has often placed himself on the front lines of culture war issues, said he supports the six-week ban but sees the bill’s absurdity.
He often says, “We welcome pro-life legislation,” when asked about the policy.
DeSantis is expected to announce his candidacy for president after the session ends in May, with a potential White House run driven in part by conservative policies approved by the Republican supermajority in the Statehouse this year.
Democrats, without power at any level of state government, largely resorted to tactics and protests to oppose the bill, which easily passed both chambers on a party-line vote. The state Senate approved it last week, and the House did so Thursday.
A Democratic senator and the chairman of the Florida Democratic Party were arrested and charged with trespassing during a protest in Tallahassee against the six-week ban.
In a last-ditch move to delay passage of the bill in the House on Friday, Democrats filed dozens of amendments to the proposal, all of which were rejected by Republicans.
“Women’s health and their personal right to vote is being stolen,” said Democratic Rep. Felicia Simone Robinson. “So I ask: Is Florida really a free state?”
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