TALLAHASSEE, FL– The Florida Senate has passed a bill seeking to make it illegal to have an abortion after six weeks in the state.
The bill, supported by Governor Ron DeSantis, passed in the Republican majority Senate on Monday.
“Bodily autonomy should not give a person the permission to kill an innocent human being,” said Sen. Erin Grall, a Republican who sponsored the bill. “We live in a time where the consequences of our actions are an afterthought and convenience has been a substitution for responsibility, and this is unacceptable when it comes to the protection of the most vulnerable.”
While the bill has passed in the Florida Senate, it still must be approved by the republican led House before it reaches the governor’s desk.
If passed, the bill will make it illegal to have an abortion after six weeks except in the case where it is to save the life of the woman or in the case of pregnancy caused by rape or incest.
If the claim is of incest or rape, the person would have to provide legal documentation to have the pregnancy terminated after six weeks and will only have until 15 weeks before it is no longer acceptable.
The ban would also make receiving medication-induced abortions, which make up the majority of abortions, available only through a physician in person.
Healthcare providers who violate the ban could be charged with a third-degree felony and face up to five years behind bars.
Many against the bill call it a near-total ban as most women do not realize they are pregnant until about eight weeks and will never have the chance to seek care.
While democrats admit that there is nothing they can do to stop the legislation from going through, Democratic Sen. Lauren Book urged women seeking abortion care to contact her office directly:
“Please don’t take matters into your own hands. Do not put your safety at risk. No back-alley abortions,” Book said. “There are people and funds that will help you. No matter where you live, no matter how desperate of a situation you are in, no matter how helpless it may seem. I promise, you are not alone. Call my office.”
The new bill will only go into effect if the current 15-week ban is upheld.
The 15-week ban is in an ongoing legal challenge in the state Supreme Court.
Florida is the only state in the Southeast that does not have a total ban on abortion care. Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana all have complete bans following the reversal of Roe vs. Wade.
According to data from the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration, out-of-state abortion patients rose 38% in 2022 as compared to care sought in 2021.