Bills introduced in the Florida legislature seek to ban abortions for pregnancies that have progressed past six weeks. The state already has a ban on abortions past the 15th week of pregnancy.
According to the University of California at San Francisco, one in three pregnant people don’t realize they are pregnant until they are past six weeks’ gestation.
“Republican state legislators in Florida proposed, today, a bill that would ban abortion before many women know if they are even pregnant, virtually eliminating a woman’s right to make healthcare decisions about her own body,” said White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre Tuesday.
Legislation was introduced in the Florida House of Representatives and the Senate.
Last summer, the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health decision overturned decades of abortion access protection established by Roe v. Wade and ushered in restrictive legislation such as this bill. Since the opinion was delivered by the conservative-leaning Supreme Court, the Biden administration has strongly come out against the action and has called on Congress to enshrine abortion access in federal law.
“This decision expressly took away a Constitutional right from the American people that it had recognized for nearly 50 years – a woman’s right to choose, free from government interference,” said a White House fact sheet issued in June.
According to Jean-Pierre, the new legislation in Florida would prevent 4 million women in the state from accessing abortion care. She said it would impact “nearly 15 million women of reproductive age who live in states across the South with abortion bans and would no longer be able to rely on Florida as an option to access care,” as well.
Jean-Pierre also mentioned a lawsuit filed in Texas regarding patients with life-threatening complications who were denied abortion care.
“We unfortunately heard devastating firsthand accounts of women’s lives almost lost after they were denied the healthcare they needed,” she said. “Horrifying details of needless pain. All because of extreme efforts by Republican officials to take away a woman’s ability to make her own healthcare decisions.”
This week, Walgreens also made news for its plans not to dispense abortion medication in 20 states.
“This includes several states where abortion remains legal,” said a statement about the action from Planned Parenthood.
In Florida, the legislation would still need to pass and be signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis before it becomes law. According to The New York Times, DeSantis has expressed support for the legislation.
“I think those exceptions are sensible,” DeSantis said regarding exceptions included for rape and incest, per the outlet. “We welcome pro-life legislation.”
Poll results published Feb. 23 by the Public Religion Research Institute indicate that 64% of Floridians believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases.
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