If signed by Florida Gov. Ron Desantis, the bill would take effect on July 1.
Courtesy of @tampabay_sds on Instagram
By Ashley George
The Florida Senate approved House Bill (HB) 5 on March 3 in a 23-15 vote that would ban most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, including victims of rape, incest or human trafficking.
Florida’s current law restricts abortions after 24 weeks. The new law would decrease the amount of time by nine weeks and only allow for exceptions involving “serious risk and irreversible physical impairment” to the pregnant person and “fatal fetal abnormality.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is poised to swiftly sign the bill as it lands on his desk — backed by the state’s Republican legislatures.
DeSantis addressed the legislation in a March 4 press conference.
“I think the protections are warranted and I think we’ll be able to sign that in short order,” DeSantis said.
Maggie Hyde, a creative writing major at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg, spoke out against the bill.
“Bringing a child into the world is a decision that cannot be made lightly. When you take away a woman’s right to choose, babies are born into families that are unable to care for them,” Hyde said.
“These children often end up in an already overburdened foster care system.”
HB 5 mirrors legislation in Mississippi, West Virginia and Arizona, all of which ban abortions after the 15-week mark.
These bills raise concern over the fate of Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion nationwide in 1973. “Pro-life” activists hope that the Court’s Republican majority will universally overturn the decision.
HB 5’s main sponsor, Sen. Kelli Stargel, R-Lakeland, said in a press release earlier this month, “we have a duty to protect life. This bill safeguards innocent, unborn children with beating hearts, who can move, taste, see and feel pain… I am grateful to my Senate colleagues for their support and look forward to seeing this pro-life legislation signed into law by Governor DeSantis.”
Activists against the bill, however, quickly voiced their dissenting opinions. Vice President Kamala Harris denounced the legislation, naming it “extreme by any standard.”
President Joe Biden also posted a statement to Twitter following the decision with a stern message.
“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,” Biden said.
Earlier in the month, Florida Senate minority leader, Lauren Books, D-Broward, gave a difficult testimony as a plea to include an amendment allowing exceptions for rape, incest and trafficking in the bill, but it failed.
In her remarks, she recounts the sexual abuse she endured as a child and how the bill could affect people like her — which, if signed into law by DeSantis, would take effect on July 1.
“While I’m tired of being known as the survivor of sexual assault in the Florida Senate –– and I’ve been very, very open about many of the things that have happened to me in my own life –– debates, issues, and topics like this compel me to share even more about my past than I’ve ever done before, Books said. “Until you’ve been there you just don’t get it.”
