Florida Republicans are pushing a ban on nearly all abortions from the point of conception, including in cases of rape or incest, in new proposed legislation.
State Representative David Borrero, a Miami-Dade Republican, and Rep. Mike Beltran, a Republican who represents parts of Hillsborough County and Manatee County in Central Florida, filed a bill called Termination of Pregnancies, HB 1519, which prohibits a person or entity from purposely performing or attempting to perform abortion and revises requirements for a court to issue an order authorizing a minor to consent to termination of pregnancy in Florida.
The only exception to allow abortions appears to be in cases when the mother’s life is danger. “A physician may only not perform or induce the termination of a pregnancy of a minor to save the life of the pregnant minor in a medical emergency,” the legislation states. If there is no medical emergency determined by a “physician’s good faith clinical judgment,” for adults or minors, the pregnancies would have to be carried to term.
The conservative bill says a medical emergency “means an emergent physical condition in which an abortion is necessary to preserve the life of a pregnant woman whose life is endangered by a physical disorder, physical illness, or physical injury, including a life-endangering physical condition caused by or arising from the pregnancy itself.”
Orlando Democratic State Representative Anna Eskamani called the proposed Republican legislation “unhinged” and “extreme.” Florida Democrats see an even greater need to pass a proposed constitutional amendment to protect abortion access, which collected more than the required signed petitions to qualify for the 2024 ballot.
This Republican legislation could lead to penalties which include facing third-degree felony charges and up to 10 years in prison as well as fines of $100,000. The legislation does not include any criminal penalty against a mother getting an abortion.
If passed, the bill would take effect 30 days after any of the following happen:
- a decision by the Florida Supreme Court holding that the right to privacy enshrined in s. 23, Article I of the State Constitution does not include a right to abortion;
- a decision by the Florida Supreme Court in Planned Parenthood v. State, SC2022-1050, allowing the prohibition on abortions after 15 weeks in s. 390.0111(1), which Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law;
- an amendment to the State Constitution clarifying that s. 23, Article I of the State Constitution does not include a right to abortion.
See the proposed Republican legislation which would ban nearly all abortions in Florida:
HB1519
