15-Week Abortion Ban Passed By FL House Wednesday: Report

FLORIDA — A Florida ban on most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy is moving closer to reaching Gov. Ron DeSantis’ desk for approval.

The Florida House approved the Republican-backed 15-week abortion ban late Wednesday night after hours of debating the measure. It passed in a 78-39 vote, along party lines, and now moves on to the state Senate for consideration, Reuters reported.

A Senate committee gave the green light to its version of the bill, which was also introduced by GOP leaders, earlier this month.

Florida currently allows abortions up to 24 weeks of pregnancy.

The proposed House law doesn’t allow for any exceptions in cases of rape or incest. The only exceptions that would be allowed under the bill, if it’s signed into law, would be if an abortion would save a woman’s life, prevent physical impairments to the mother or if the baby isn’t expected to survive, according to News4Jax.

“This is the right to life and to give up life is unconscionable to me,” said Republican Rep. Dana Trabulsy.

While she shared that she previously had an abortion, she noted she has “regretted it every day since.”

Rep. Robin Bartleman, a Democrat, said, “As a woman it is my right to make decisions about my body and what is in the best interest of my family. God forbid your 11-year-old is raped and pregnant and you find out after 15 weeks. You don’t get to get your daughter that abortion, that’s what this law says.”

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Since the abortion ban was first introduced to the state Legislature, nearly 700 Florida health care workers have signed an open letter speaking out against the proposed law, WUSF reported. Those medical workers said the law is bad medicine and bad policy.

"This 15-week ban, it's nowhere near the threshold of viability during a pregnancy,” said Dr. Shelly Holmstrom, a Tampa obsetrician and University of South Florida professor who signed the letter. “There are many patients of mine and throughout the state of Florida that don't even realize they're pregnant by 15 weeks. A few of my patients have two or three menstrual cycles a year and may not realize until well into the second trimester."

The Florida House bill is similar to the abortion law in Mississippi that the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule on later this year.

The Supreme Court has signaled that it would uphold Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban, potentially overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, the Associated Press reported. Anticipating this decision, Republicans in several state legislatures, including Florida's, have moved to pass new abortion restrictions.

Florida’s proposed bill isn’t as extreme as the so-called “Heartbeat Bill” passed in Texas last year, though. The Texas law bans abortions after six weeks, when a heartbeat can be detected in a fetus.

Last year, Manatee County commissioners attempted to pass their own abortion ban modeled after Texas law, which would have been the first abortion ban passed by a Florida municipality.

Commissioner James Satcher, a conservative minister, initially brought his pro-life initiatives before the Manatee County Board of County Commissioners in June.

He worked with Mark Lee Dickson, a director with Right to Life of East Texas and founder of the Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn, in moving an abortion ban forward in Manatee. Dickson helped 39 cities across the U.S. pass ordinances outlawing abortions and drafted an ordinance for Satcher.

Commissioners decided to seek legal advice from Attorney General Ashley Moody on establishing local abortion restrictions in the county.

In December, experts from her office told Manatee County commissioners that a local abortion ban would be preempted by state law, and they shouldn’t move forward their proposed ordinance. Her legal staff also referenced the propose statewide 15-week abortion ban moving forward and said the board might want to consider how that legislation might affect any ordinance they passed.

This story includes reporting from the Associated Press.