The Republican-dominated Florida Legislature approved a ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy on Thursday, a proposal later signed into law by GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis as he prepares for a possible presidential run.
The ban provides DeSantis with a significant political victory among Republican primary voters as he prepares to launch a presidential campaign based on his national brand as a conservative standard bearer.
The governor’s office announced late Thursday that he had signed the bill.
The six-week ban will go into effect only if the state’s current 15-week ban is upheld in an ongoing legal challenge before the conservative-controlled state Supreme Court.
Following the United States Supreme Court’s decision last year to overturn Roe v. Wade and leave abortion access decisions to states, the policy would have broader implications for abortion access throughout the South. Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi have all outlawed abortion at any stage of pregnancy, while Georgia prohibits it after cardiac activity is detected, which is usually around six weeks.
“We have the opportunity to lead the national debate about the importance of protecting life and giving every child the opportunity to be born and find his or her purpose,” said Republican Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulicka, who carried the bill in the House.
Democrats and abortion-rights groups have criticized Florida’s proposal as extreme.
“This ban would prevent four million Florida women of reproductive age from accessing abortion care after six weeks — before many women even know they’re pregnant,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement issued after Thursday’s vote. “This ban would also impact the nearly 15 million women of reproductive age who live in abortion-banning states throughout the South, many of whom have previously relied on travel to Florida as an option to access care.”
The law allows for some exceptions, including saving the woman’s life. Abortions for rape or incest pregnancies would be permitted until 15 weeks of pregnancy, provided the woman has documentation such as a restraining order or police report. The rape and incest provisions have been deemed reasonable by DeSantis.
Under Florida law, drugs used in medication-induced abortions — which account for the vast majority of those performed nationwide — could be dispensed only in person or by a physician. Separately, the abortion pill mifepristone is being challenged in court across the country.
“I can’t think of any bill that’s going to provide more protections to more people who are more vulnerable than this piece of legislation,” said Republican Rep. Mike Beltran, who said the bill’s exceptions and six-week timeframe represented a compromise.
Abortion restrictions are popular among some religious conservatives who make up the GOP voting base, but the issue has motivated many others to vote Democratic. Republicans have suffered defeats in recent weeks and months in elections centered on abortion access in states such as Kentucky, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
“Have we learned nothing?” House Democratic Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell said of recent elections in other states. “Do we not listen to our constituents and to the people of Florida and what they are asking for?”
DeSantis, who often places himself on the front lines of culture war issues, had said he backs the six-week ban but had appeared uncharacteristically tepid on the bill. He has often said, “We welcome pro-life legislation,” when asked about the policy.
DeSantis is expected to announce his presidential candidacy after the session ends in May, with his potential White House run in part buoyed by the conservative policies approved by the Republican supermajority in the Statehouse this year.
Democrats, who lack power at all levels of state government, had mostly used stall tactics and protests to oppose the bill, which was easily passed by both chambers on largely party-line votes. The Senate passed it last week, and the House passed it on Thursday.
During a protest against the six-week ban in Tallahassee, a Democratic senator and the chairwoman of the Florida Democratic Party were arrested and charged with trespassing. Democrats filed dozens of amendments to the bill on Thursday in an attempt to delay its passage in the House, all of which were rejected by Republicans.
“Women’s health and their personal right to choose is being stolen,” said Democratic Rep. Felicia Simone Robinson. “So I ask: Is Florida truly a free state?”