Florida Republicans just sent Governor Rick ‘Freedum’ DeSantis a bill that bans abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Florida’s anti-choice bill does have exceptions “if the abortion is necessary to save a mother’s life, prevent serious injury to the mother or if the fetus has a fatal abnormality.” The state currently allows abortions up to 24 weeks of pregnancy. However, exemptions for rape, incest, and human trafficking appear off the table.
“It’s not OK to force someone who’s been sexually assaulted and impregnated to carry that pregnancy to term if they don’t want too, it’s just not,” Sen. Lauren Book said. “And if a woman or a girl needs more than 15 weeks to decide, we should be able to give that to her.”
Republican Sen. Ileana Garcia and other GQPers justified the bill to control a woman’s body by stating it is not a total ban on abortion but “… whatever decision you make, you do it before the 15 weeks.”
GOP lawmakers in West Virginia and Arizona have also introduced similar 15-week abortion bans similar to the Mississippi law under review by the Supreme Court. Republicans in other states have modeled legislation after a law in Texas which effectively banned abortions after six weeks.
Before the vote Thursday, White House officials hosted a roundtable discussion with abortion rights advocacy groups and Democratic state lawmakers about the Florida bill as well as Republican restrictions in other states. In a statement about the meeting, the White House said “In the face of these challenges, administration officials reiterated the administration’s commitment to exploring every option to protect reproductive health care.”
