Last week, Lauren Book, the top Democrat in the Florida senate – was placed in handcuffs, arrested and charged with trespassing, after refusing to leave an abortion rights demonstration near the state capitol building in Tallahassee.
Hours before, Republican lawmakers in the state senate advanced the legislation, which would dramatically restrict the state’s current ban on abortion from 15 weeks of pregnancy to six weeks – before many women even realize they’re pregnant. Critics say the narrow window would amount to a “near-total” ban on abortions in the state.