Thursday May 13, 2010
Pro-Aborts Rally, Urging Florida Gov. Crist to Kill Pro-Life Ultrasound Bill
By James Tillman
TALLAHASSEE, Florida, May 13, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) — Pro-abortion protestors gathered Thursday in cities across Florida to protest the pro-life HB 1143 – just one part of a barrage of pressure against Governor Charlie Crist to try to force him to veto the measure.
Crist, who has a mixed record on abortion, recently said that although he considers himself “pro-life,” he may veto the landmark bill out of a reluctance to “impose my will on others.”
Planned Parenthood has launched a massive statewide campaign calling on him to veto the bill since it was passed by the state legislature April 30: rallies have been held in Orlando, St. Petersburg, Tallahassee, and West Palm Beach.
The ACLU has also been aggressively opposing the bill.
“This legislation puts lawmakers in the exam room, during the most fragile point in any woman’s life, and takes the medical decision away from her and her doctor,” said Maria Kayanan of the Florida ACLU. “Politicians should not have played doctor in the legislature, but they did, so now it is the Governor’s responsibility to correct their mistake.”
HB 1143 passed the Florida legislature by significant, but not veto-proof, majorities in both the House and Senate. The pro-life Florida Family Policy Council’s president, John Stemberger, has called it “the single greatest legal or policy measure the state of Florida can take to significantly reduce abortions statewide,” short of reversing Roe v. Wade.
State Rep. Scott Plakon, who co-sponsored the bill, spoke similarly.
“Depending on whose count you believe, we’re the third- or fourth-largest state,” Plakon told Charisma Magazine. “So our ability to get legislation like this passed, I think, will have an impact on the way other states view [similar pro-life legislation]. The impact of this will go beyond the state of Florida.”
The bill requires doctors to give women an opportunity to view ultrasound images of their unborn children before an abortion and to provide a description of the fetus at various stages of its development. It includes an exception in cases where the mother is a victim of rape, domestic violence, incest, or human trafficking, or is at risk of life-threatening injury due to the pregnancy.
Despite some media coverage to the contrary, the bill allows women to decline to view the ulrasound.
The bill would also prevent private health insurance plans from covering abortion if the plan in question is subsidized by state or federal government.
Critics of the bill have held that it is cruel to require women to tell their doctors of their attack before they may opt out of an ultrasound.
Local pro-lifers are alarmed that Crist has expressed doubts regarding the bill. As a state senator in 1995, Crist voted against a bill requiring a waiting period for abortion. In his U.S. Senate Campaign, he said that he was “pro-choice,” but not pro-abortion.
In recent years, however, he has claimed to be pro-life. Last week he changed his party affiliation from Republican to independent so that he would not lose the Republican Primary to the pro-life Marc Rubio.
Florida Right to Life has been begging local pro-lifers to call Crist and urge him to sign the bill, and to also tell their friends to call him. Of the people who have called the Governor thus far, the Miami Herald has said that aproximately 80% have asked him to veto the bill.
There is a limited time for either pro-life or pro-abortion supporters to make their message known: Crist has only 15 days to veto or sign the bill after it reaches his desk.
To contact Governor Charlie Crist:
Phone: (850) 488-7146 or (850)-488-4441
Fax: (850) 487-0801
[email protected]
See related stories on LifeSiteNews.com:
Florida Gov. Crist Swaying Toward Veto for Abortion Mandate Opt-Out, Ultrasound Bill
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/may/10050611.html