Bilirakis Questions Becerra Over Partial Birth Abortions

This week, Florida Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R) had an exchange with Health and human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra, which he calls alarming. During a Health Subcommittee hearing, Bilirakis questioned Becerra over a number of topics, which included Becerra’s “failure to uphold the existing federal partial birth abortion ban.” Referring to a previous subcommittee hearing in 2021 wherein Becerra was questioned about the ban, Bilirakis argues that Becerra lied about there being “no law dealing specifically with the term partial-birth abortion.”

Admitting that “2^nd time is apparently the charm,” Bilirakis shared “that Congress passed the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act in 2003, and Becerra, who was a sitting Congressman at the time, voted on the measure.” The law was then upheld by the Supreme Court in 2007, so Bilirakis argues that Becerra has lied.

In his comments, Bilirakis expressed that “apparently the second time is the charm when it comes to jogging Secretary Becerra’s memory about his obligation under the law to protect the lives of unborn children.”

Bilirakis added that, during the hearing, he “was glad to hear he [Becerra] is no longer denying the law’s existence and publicly committed compliance.”

Calling himself “a staunch defender of life,” Bilirakis vowed to hold the Health Secretary “accountable for doing so.”

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) and Republicans have opposed abortions in the state, and it culminated in the Governor signing a 15-week abortion ban that Democrats vocally opposed.

In signing the bill, Governor DeSantis said that “House Bill 5 protects babies in the womb who have beating hearts, who can move, who can taste, who can see, and who can feel pain." DeSantis added that “life is a sacred gift worthy of our protection, and" he was "proud to sign this great piece of legislation which represents the most significant protections for life in the state’s modern history.”