Gov. Ron DeSantis is clearly continuing on his path of authoritarian leadership as he is likely to sign a 15-week abortion ban into law in Florida.
It apparently isn’t enough for him to ban teaching the American history of slavery, racism, and Jim Crow, or to dismiss COVID-19 mitigations such as masks and vaccines in favor of unscientific treatments, or to ban books, or kill the rights of LGBTQ+ Floridians by forbidding his constituents to even say the word “gay,” but now he’s going after the rights of women over their own bodies.
Republican senators sent the bill to DeSantis late Thursday night, ending a bitter debate in the statehouse as an imminent U.S. Supreme Court decision may soon limit abortion rights in America.
Democratic lawmakers were fast to react to DeSantis’ latest nonsense.
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“Today is a dark day for women in Florida. This extreme abortion ban is not only cruel, immoral, and inhumane—it violates both the Florida and the U.S. constitutions. It’s an insult to the dignity of women and our ability to make decisions about our own lives. It will punish women and girls who have endured traumas that the privileged white men who pushed this bill could never even imagine, and every single member who voted for it should be ashamed,” Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried said.
Fried, a Democrat, is running against DeSantis in the midterms.
“Florida Republicans claim to be defenders of ‘freedom’—except when it comes to a woman’s freedom to choose what is right for herself, her body, and her future. At its core, this ban is nothing more than a control mechanism, and an affront to every woman’s individual freedom and independence—with NO exemption for rape, incest, or human trafficking,” Sen. Lauren Book wrote.
Democratic Sen. Lori Berman said: "I want abortion to be legal, safe, and accessible, but I fear this bill moves us in the other direction, forcing women with means to travel out of state and those struggling economically to resort to potentially dangerous options."
The Florida bill contains exceptions if the abortion is necessary to save a mother's life, to prevent serious injury to the mother, or if the fetus has a fatal abnormality. The state currently allows abortions up to 24 weeks of pregnancy.
Sen. Janet Cruz said, “Stripping these freedoms will not reduce abortions, but it will make them less safe and result in more women in our state dying as a result. Not only does this bill politicize a woman’s basic right to make her own healthcare choices, it will also have a disproportionate effect on those who are in poverty, have health issues, and who are in domestic violence situations.”
Republicans argue that the bill is reasonable because it isn’t a total ban on abortion and gives women enough time to consider getting an abortion, even in cases of rape, incest, or trafficking.
"The only thing that we're asking in this bill is that whatever decision you make, you do it before the 15 weeks," said Republican Sen. Ileana Garcia.
Similar bills 15-week abortion bans have also been introduced by GOP lawmakers in West Virginia and Arizona, similar to the Mississippi law currently under review by the Supreme Court. Republicans were quick to jump on the Texas bandwagon after the state effectively banned abortions after six weeks.