TALLAHASSEE, Florida (LifeSiteNews) — Florida’s State Senate passed legislation Thursday banning abortion within the state after 15 weeks of pregnancy, sending the bill to pro-life state Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) who has vowed to sign the bill “in short order.”
The Republican-led Senate voted 23–15 in favor of the bill, H.B. 5, on Thursday evening, which will make abortions illegal in Florida after a child is determined to have been conceived at least 15 weeks prior. The legislation anticipates a possible Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade later this year.
The bill includes exceptions in two cases: first, when “the termination of the pregnancy is necessary to save the pregnant woman’s life or avert a serious risk of substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman other than a psychological condition;” and second, when a baby is considered to have suffered a “fatal fetal abnormality,” which the bill describes as “a terminal condition that, in reasonable medical judgment, regardless of the provision of life-saving medical treatment, is incompatible with life outside the womb and will result in death upon birth or imminently thereafter.”
On Wednesday, Republicans voted down an amendment to the bill which would extend the exceptional cases to include incest, rape, and human trafficking.
Bill sponsor Sen. Kelli Stargel defended the decision not to include rape and incest as exceptions to the rule, stating that a child should not “be killed because of the circumstances in which it was conceived.”
The bill mirrors that of Arizona’s Senate Bill 1164 and West Virginia’s House Bill 4004, all three of which are modeled on the Mississippi Gestational Age Act banning abortions after 15 weeks. Arizona’s Senate and West Virginia’s House passed the legislation last month.
The Supreme Court is currently deliberating on the Mississippi law and is expected to decide whether all so-called “pre-viability” abortion limits are unconstitutional this summer.
Florida’s bill, which was passed by the House last month, now makes its way to the governor’s desk where, if signed, it will become effective on July 1.
Following the vote, Florida’s Catholic governor said that the protections offered for the unborn by the bill “are warranted, and I think that we’ll be able to sign that in short order.”
“These are protections for babies that have heartbeats, that can feel pain, and this is very, very late,” he added.
Prior to the bill passing the Senate, DeSantis had indicated his support, saying it “makes a lot of sense” and adding that more pro-life legislation will be making its way through the legislature, which “we’re going to be welcoming.”
Nominally Catholic President Joe Biden strongly opposed Florida lawmakers in a Friday tweet, criticizing the pro-life legislation as “a dangerous bill that will severely restrict women’s access to reproductive health care” and stating that his administration “will not stand for the continued erosion of women’s constitutional rights.”
Last night, the Republican-controlled Florida legislature passed a dangerous bill that will severely restrict women’s access to reproductive health care. My Administration will not stand for the continued erosion of women’s constitutional rights.
— President Biden (@POTUS) March 4, 2022
Vice President Kamala Harris backed Biden, issuing a statement Friday saying the “right of women to make decisions about their own bodies is non-negotiable. If signed into law, Florida’s bill would violate the constitutional right to abortion that the Supreme Court has recognized for nearly 50 years.”
National pro-life group Susan B. Anthony (SBA) List, on the other hand, celebrated Thursday’s move as “the strongest protections for unborn children and their mothers in state history if enacted” in a Friday press release.
“At a time when pro-abortion extremists in Washington are pushing a deeply unpopular agenda of abortion on demand until the moment of birth, states like Florida are fighting back to assert the will of the people,” SBA List state policy director Sue Liebel said.
“This humane legislation would save more than 3,000 lives a year in Florida by limiting abortion at a point when science shows unborn babies can feel pain. Floridians of all stripes agree this would be a significant step forward for the Sunshine State. We appreciate Gov. DeSantis’ strong stand for women and children and greatly look forward to seeing him sign this bill into law.”
Joe Biden’s pick to replace the retiring Justice Stephen Breyer on the U.S. Supreme Court is abortion defender D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first black woman nominated to the nation's highest court ever.
By choosing Brown Jackson, Biden is fulfilling two campaign promises at the same time: first, to use every tool at his disposal to defend and promote the killing of the most innocent; and, second, to make the nation’s highest court more "diverse."
Of course, Biden could have achieved "diversity" by different means (and, as a "Catholic," he should have), but, as throughout the rest of tenure in office, he has chosen to pursue the deadly path of promoting abortion.
And, make no mistake: Planned Parenthood and NARAL are ecstatic about Brown Jackson.
SIGN and SHARE this petition which urges all U.S. Senators to reject abortion activist Brown Jackson's nomination to the Supreme Court.
Unlike most previous nominees to the Supreme Court, Brown Jackson has a judicial history of supporting abortion - which should be enough to cause Senators to reject her.
In the 1990s, she wrote an amicus brief defending a Massachusetts law that banned protests outside of abortion clinics. Thankfully, the law was ruled unconstitutional in 2000, but it shows how Brown Jackson intends to use the law to silence free speech so that the killing can continue without protest.
Pro-lifers are unanimous in their opposition to Brown Jackson, while the pro-abortionists are undivided in their zeal for her nomination.
SIGN and SHARE this petition which urges all U.S. Senators to reject abortion activist Brown Jackson's nomination to the Supreme Court.
Carrie Severino, president of the pro-life Judicial Crisis Network, warned of an imminent free speech threat, stating that in her "buffer-zone" amicus brief, Brown Jackson "repeatedly disparaged the peaceful and often prayerful clinic protesters as engaging in ‘in-your-face’ and ‘chaotic’ activity that somehow fell short of ‘pure speech.’"
And, Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List stated her organization's opposition to Brown Jackson's nomination, saying: "She is on record opposing the free speech rights of pro-life advocates pleading to save lives outside abortion centers and supporting the false claim that abortion is ‘health care.’"
But, the country's top abortion groups are celebrating Brown Jackson’s appointment.
Planned Parenthood CEO Alexis McGill Johnson wrote in a tweet addressed to Jackson: "We can’t wait to see the fantastic work you will do and will be here to support you along the way,"
And, NARAL Pro-Choice America President Mini Timmaraju agreed.
"Judge Jackson … has a demonstrated record of defending and upholding our constitutional rights and fundamental freedoms — including reproductive freedom," Timmaraju said. "We are confident that she will be a voice for justice, equity, and freedom on the Court in the decades to come."
Thank you for SIGNING and SHARING this petition which urges all U.S. Senators to reject abortion activist Brown Jackson's nomination to the Supreme Court.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
'Biden announces Ketanji Brown Jackson to replace Stephen Breyer on Supreme Court' - https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/biden-announces-ketanji-brown-jackson-to-replace-stephen-breyer-on-supreme-court/
'Pro-life groups warn about Biden’s Supreme Court nominee' - https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/pro-life-groups-warn-about-bidens-supreme-court-nominee/
'These Republicans could help Biden install his far-left Supreme Court pick' - https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/these-republicans-could-help-biden-his-left-wing-supreme-court-pick/
**Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons
The Catholic bishops of Florida added their voices in support of the bill’s passing, describing the legislation as “an incremental, yet important, step” towards the protection of innocent lives.
Approximately four percent of abortions in Florida — more than 3,300 — occurred at 15 weeks of pregnancy or later in 2020, according to the Charlotte Lozier Institute, the SBA List’s research arm. As of 2020, Florida has one of the highest abortion rates in the U.S. at 19.2 per 1,000 women, and 65 abortion sites — triple that of any other southern state.
The 15-week ban would significantly curb late-term abortion in the Southeast, where many women seeking late abortions travel due to relaxed restrictions, according to Reuters.
By 15 weeks of pregnancy, babies are able to feel pain throughout much of their body, including in their trunks and limbs, the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG) has noted. Unborn babies can perceive pain around the peri-oral area as early as seven weeks, and in the palms and soles by 11 weeks.
“Early in the second trimester, the fetus reacts to stimuli that would be recognized as painful if applied to an adult human, in much the same ways as an adult, for example, by recoiling,” according to the AAPLOG.