TALLAHASSEE (LifeSiteNews) — A leading Republican in the Florida legislature is pouring cold water on left-wing hopes of repealing the Sunshine State’s six-week abortion ban, following the defeat of a high-profile push to add a so-called “right” to abortion to the state constitution.
The Tallahassee Democrat reports that incoming Republican Senate President Ben Albritton made clear his position on the matter in a statement: “Every senator has the right – and the responsibility – to file bills important to their constituents and advocate for their priorities. Senators file bills related to marijuana and abortion every year, and I don’t expect that will change. But, to answer your question plainly – for my part, I’m a ‘no.’”
“I support our Heartbeat Protection Act because I believe that every life was created by God, and every human being is valuable,” he added. “My constituents in District 27 share that view. They expect me to bring their voices to Tallahassee, so again, I would be a ‘no.’”
Democrats and their pro-abortion allies are trying to keep the question alive in the wake of the Amendment 4’s failure in last week’s elections. The so-called “Amendment to Limit Government Interference with Abortion” would have required abortion to be allowed for any reason before fetal “viability” and rendered post-“viability” bans effectively meaningless by exempting any abortion that an abortionist claims is for “health” reasons. If successful, it would have overturned all of the Sunshine State’s pro-life laws, including its law banning most abortions starting around six weeks.
Abortion, the destruction of an innocent unborn child in his mother’s womb, is always gravely immoral and never needed nor justifiable to protect a mother’s life or health.
READ: Open letter to President Trump: Enforce the Constitution and protect all unborn children
With Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis leading a fight to defeat the amendment, it finished with 57 percent of the vote, short of Florida’s 60 percent threshold for amending its constitution. However, abortion defenders are attempting to use the support it did get to argue that the heartbeat law is still out of step with the will of the people. Returning President Donald Trump himself said he thought that six weeks was “too short,” before being pressured to announce he would be voting against the amendment.
In the wake of defeat, the Florida chapter of the far-left American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) attempted to frame it as only a “temporary loss,” and Democrat state Rep. Anna Eskamani declared she will be filing a bill to repeal the heartbeat law anyway.
“We’re not going anywhere,” she said. “The Legislature wants to continue to be extreme on this issue, we want to make sure the voters are aware of that. What concerns me more is Republicans going farther on [so-called] abortion rights.”
However, DeSantis has made clear that he would veto any such pro-abortion law, which stands no chance of reaching his desk anyway in the Republican-controlled legislature. The GOP holds a 28-12 majority in the state Senate and an 85-35 majority in the state House of Representatives.