Florida Legislature Overwhelmingly Passes Six-Week Abortion Ban

The Republican-controlled Florida legislature passed a bill on Thursday that would ban abortions beyond six weeks of pregnancy.

“We have the opportunity to lead the national debate about the importance of protecting life and giving every child the opportunity to be born and find his or her purpose,” Jenna Persons-Mulicka, a Republican state representative that helped pass the House version of the bill, told the Associated Press.

The bill overhauls Florida’s existing abortion ban beyond 15 weeks of pregnancy; it provides exceptions in cases involving rape, incest, or threat to a mother’s life.

“I can’t think of any bill that’s going to provide more protections to more people who are more vulnerable than this piece of legislation,” Republican state representative, Mike Beltran, told the AP.

However, the news was condemned by state Democrats who viewed the legislation, following the overturning of Roe v. Wade in June 2022, as a step back for women’s rights across the country.

“In the course of just two generations, we’ve seen our rights won and lost,” Democratic minority leader Lauren Book said on the Senate floor earlier this month before being arrested for an abortion rights protest outside the Tallahassee City Hall. “It’s up to us to get them back. No one is going to save us but ourselves.”

Local media practitioners have also warned that the new policy might give rise to Floridians going out of state to procure an abortion.

“If people from Florida are now going to be flooding into the Carolinas and Illinois,” Robin Marty, the director of operations at West Alabama Women’s Center, an abortion clinic, told the Washington Post. “[T]hat is taking spots that Alabamians and Mississippians need right now.”

“That’s a crisis that’s going to ripple all across the entire country.”

In mid-March, Florida first passed the so-called Heartbeat Bill, which restricted abortions beyond six weeks gestation, through a state House committee with the overwhelming support of Republicans.

“It’s a bill that recognizes the importance and value of the life of innocent, unborn human beings,” Republican Representative Jenna Persons-Mulicka, the proposal’s sponsor, told the Associated Press. “The bill that’s before you is not solely a reflection of my personal beliefs, but a result of listening in an attempt to build consensus around a policy that supports life.”

The bill’s introduction comes as an earlier law signed by Governor Ron DeSantis last April to cap abortions at 15 weeks had faced legal challenges from Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). That bill permitted exemptions only for life-threatening injuries to the mother or fatal defects in the fetus; no special carve-outs were granted for abortions sought due to rape or incest.

Although the ACLU and Planned Parenthood were successful in having their lawsuit heard before the Florida Supreme Court, their motion to temporarily block the existing anti-abortion legislation failed.

“While we are pleased that the court didn’t shut its doors completely, we are dismayed that it has allowed this dangerous ban to remain in effect and to harm real people each and every day until this case is finally decided,” Whitney White, a staff attorney for the ACLU wrote in an official statement released Monday.

“We hope that the court acts quickly and follows 40 years of precedent and the will of the people to stop this unconstitutional 15-week abortion ban, which has caused chaos and devastation in the state since going into effect in July.”

“As Governor DeSantis said, we are better when everybody counts. The Florida Supreme Court denied both of Planned Parenthood’s emergency motions asking the Court to block Florida’s law from taking effect. The Court also accepted jurisdiction of the case and set a briefing schedule. From here, we will continue to defend our pro-life protections,” DeSantis’s press secretary Bryan Griffin said in a statement.