TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A 15-week ban on most abortions moved forward Wednesday in the Florida Legislature, despite fervent opposition from Democrats and abortion rights advocates.
A House committee advanced the measure on a 12-6 party-line vote in the first legislative debate on the controversial bill. Abortion is presently legal up to 24th week of pregnancy in Florida.
State Rep. Erin Gall, the bill’s sponsor, said abortion needs to be limited because medicine and science has changed since the 1973 Roe v. Wade U.S. Supreme Court decision that established a constitutional right to abortion.
“This is not an abortion ban,” she said. “This is about 15 weeks. This is about having all your available options at the ready for you for 15 weeks.”
But Democrats said it would interfere with what should be a private medical decision and particularly hurt low-income women and people of color who lack access to health care.
“When it comes to decisions about our pregnancies, they are personal and private. ... You are inserting government and politicians between me and my doctor and telling me what I can and cannot do,” state Rep. Anna Eskamani, an Orlando Democrat, said.
Gov. Ron DeSantis and GOP legislative leaders have signaled they will support a 15-week ban.
The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule on Mississippi’s 15-week ban over the summer. Florida’s Constitution includes privacy protections that have been interpreted in the past as protecting a right to abortion.
The state Supreme Court is now reliably conservative with DeSantis appointees filling three of the seven seats.
The abortion measure has two more committee hearings in the Florida House.
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