Republican-led Senate in Florida gave on Thursday final passage in a 23-15 vote to a bill to ban abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, sending it for consideration to Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has already signaled to support it.
Florida’s upper chamber passed the ban after the Florida House of Representatives approved the bill last month which puts the state one step closer to adopting a gestational limit the US Supreme Court is currently reviewing.
It was previously allowed for a person in Florida to receive an abortion up to 24 weeks into pregnancy.
The new legislation shortens that time period and although it contains several exceptions – fatal abnormality on a fetus, saving the life, or preventing serious injury to the pregnant person- there are no exceptions in the case of incest, rape, or human trafficking which prompted impassioned speeches against it among Florida state senators.
Florida state Sen. Randolph Bracy, who has two girls, said it’s unconscionable to him that the ban will not make an exception for incest and rape.
The Florida ban comes as the Supreme Court is set to rule on Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban that directly challenges the landmark case Roe v. Wade, which Florida’s legislation was modeled after.
During the arguments in December, the high court’s justices seemed to indicate they could be open to upholding the law.
Texas passed last year legislation banning abortions after a fetal cardiac activity is detected, typically around six weeks of pregnancy with the Supreme Court rebuffing in January abortion providers’ latest request for it to intervene in a challenge to that law.
They demanded the case to be returned to the conservative US Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit.
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