Florida state House Republicans are not all standing in solidarity over the proposed six-week abortion ban bill, which would require only 15 weeks in pregnancy to be allowed for abortions. The Florida House is set to vote Thursday on whether to move the ban from the current 15-week limit to six weeks, with exceptions for rape, incest, and human trafficking.
Two House Republicans have joined two Senate GOP members who say that their districts' wishes prevent them from siding with the rest of the Republican Party and Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The bill would prohibit telehealth for abortion care, which accounted for 9% of abortions across the six months following the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade in June 2022. It also allocates $25 million annually for crisis pregnancy centers that offer counseling for mothers in hopes of pushing them toward parenting or adoption rather than abortion.
To ease Democrats' criticism of the measure, Republican State Rep. Jenna Persons-Mullicka told the House on Thursday that "no woman needs to wait until the brink of death" to have an abortion.
On Thursday, protesters flooded Florida's Capitol as lawmakers prepared to vote on a bill that would outlaw abortions after six weeks—essentially amounting to a total ban since most women don't realize they're pregnant until after this point. If enacted into law, it would make Florida one of America's states with strictest anti-abortion laws.
Democratic legislators proposed more than 50 amendments but acknowledged facing an uphill battle against their Republican counterparts who control both chambers at Tallahassee’s Capitol Building complex amid loud demonstrations by pro-choice groups outside its doors throughout daylong sessions beginning early morning hours Wednesday through afternoon today (Friday).
By noon today however those efforts had been exhausted when all demonstrators left gallery spaces due protests continuing unabated around entrances leading inside where politicians continued discussing matters pertaining primarily towards policy needs surrounding women seeking abortions during first trimester pregnancies which currently remains legal under federal jurisdiction since 1973 Supreme Court decision allowing access nationwide until now as multiple states including Alabama join fight against reproductive rights across America.
The Florida House of Representatives passed a bill to ban most abortions after six weeks, when many women don't know they are pregnant. The measure now goes to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is expected to sign it into law.
However, the provision would only take effect if the state's existing 15-week ban is upheld in an ongoing legal challenge before the state Supreme Court. The bill also includes exceptions for cases of rape and incest up to the 15th week of pregnancy as determined by a physician, such as a medical record, a restraining order or a police report proving she is a victim.
This development comes amidst an increasingly messy legal battle over the abortion pill mifepristone. The Biden administration has asked the Supreme Court to intervene in this issue that affects thousands of people every year in Florida and beyond its borders throughout Southeastern United States where similar restrictions exist alongside growing opposition movements led mainly by Democratic lawmakers at both local level government agencies within their districts along coastal regions from Texas eastward toward Carolinas northward reaching Virginia last month alone according recent data collected via Planned Parenthood Federation America (PPFA).