Despite efforts by protestors and Democrat lawmakers, the Republican-led Florida House of Representatives has passed its controversial new six-week abortion ban, which now heads to Gov. Ron DeSantis's desk for signing.
House Democrats attempted to foil the controversial legislation at all costs. The Florida House of Representatives was breached and locked down after a group named, "Occupy Tallahassee," chanted their disapproval of the legislation, dropping literature atop lawmakers from the gallery.
Despite the protests, Democrat lawmakers attempted to jam 58 amendments into the abortion legislation, all of which failed. All efforts today were simply attempts to slow down the inevitable from occurring, the passage of one of the most restrictive abortion bans in the nation.
State Rep. Anna Eskamani was the leading voice against the bill, using minors having abortions as a talking point to expose the faults in the bill that passed by a vote of 26-13 in the Senate and 70-40 in the House.
Arguably the biggest critic of the legislation, Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book (D), quickly issued a statement after the bill's passing, "With the passage of this dangerous ban, Republicans have chosen to disregard the pleas of women and the doctors entrusted with their care — including two mothers in my own district forced to the brink of death following miscarriages due to the state’s current restrictive laws. Now, things will get much worse. Women have been stripped of their rights and access to life-saving health care. Women will undoubtedly die. This is not freedom."
Last Summer the Supreme Court of the United States reversed a landmark case, Roe v. Wade, that guaranteed women abortion access at the federal level of government. With the overturning of Roe, abortion has now become a state issue, permitting more wiggle room for states like Florida to pass more restrictive bans on medical practice.
Florida Democrats continue to maintain that abortion is healthcare and a right that women should have universal access to. For Governor DeSantis (R-FL), who is expected to sign the bill into law, the bill gives the firebrand governor another win in the impending culture war and a feather in his cap for a potential presidential primary challenge to President Donald Trump (R).
