Bill To Decriminalize Abortions In Florida Has Been Filed

FLORIDA — Representative Anna Eskamani, a Democrat from Orlando, filed legislation last week to prevent women from facing criminal charges for terminating their pregnancy in Florida, even after 15 weeks.

The bill would amend the current Florida law — which states that anyone, with some exceptions, who terminates a pregnancy in the third trimester is subject to penalties — clarifying that these certain penalties do not apply to women who get abortions.

It is set to be considered during the 2024 legislative session and is identical to the bill filed by Lauren Book in Florida's Senate in September.

Book said she filed the legislation in response to a false statement Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis made on television. During an interview, DeSantis claimed that only abortion providers are in danger of legal repercussions.

"Ron DeSantis believes felony criminal penalties in Florida abortion bans don’t apply to women," Book wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, Sept. 17. "Good. I’ve filed a bill to make sure of it."

In a video attached to the post, Book added that "since the governor has already given his nod to a piece of legislation like this," she looks forward to the Republicans hearing it. She added that she hopes "it passes as one of the first bills of the legislative session."

As it stands, abortion is legal in Florida up until the 15th week of pregnancy. DeSantis signed into law in April a bill to ban abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, but it will only take effect if the state's current 15-week ban is upheld in an ongoing legal challenge that is before the conservative-controlled Supreme Court.

"This ban would prevent four million Florida women of reproductive age from accessing abortion care after six weeks — before many women even know they’re pregnant,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement in April. "This ban would also impact the nearly 15 million women of reproductive age who live in abortion-banning states throughout the South, many of whom have previously relied on travel to Florida as an option to access care."

The law contains some exceptions, including to save the woman’s life. Abortions for pregnancies involving rape or incest would be allowed until 15 weeks of pregnancy, provided a woman has documentation such as a restraining order or police report. DeSantis has called the rape and incest provisions sensible.

Democrats, without power at any level of state government, had mostly turned to stall tactics and protests to oppose the bill, which easily passed both chambers on largely party-line votes.

A Democratic senator and chairwoman of the Florida Democratic Party were arrested and charged with trespassing during a protest in Tallahassee against the six-week ban. In a last ditch move to delay the bill’s passage in the House, Democrats filed dozens of amendments to the proposal, all of which were rejected by Republicans.

The policy would have wider implications for abortion access throughout the South in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last year overturning Roe v. Wade and leaving decisions about abortion access to states. Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi have banned abortion at all stages of pregnancy, while Georgia forbids the procedure after cardiac activity can be detected, which is around six weeks.

"Women’s health and their personal right to choose is being stolen," Democratic Rep. Felicia Simone Robinson said. "So I ask: Is Florida truly a free state?"

The Associated Press contributed to this report.