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The Republican-dominated Florida legislature on Thursday approved a ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, a proposal supported by the state’s governor, Ron DeSantis, as he prepares for an expected presidential run.
DeSantis, a Republican, later signed the bill into law. “We are proud to support life and family in the state of Florida,” he said in a statement. Florida currently prohibits abortions after 15 weeks.
A six-week ban would give DeSantis a key political victory among Republican primary voters as he prepares to launch a presidential candidacy built on his national brand as a conservative standard bearer.
The policy would also have wider implications for abortion access throughout the south in the wake of the US supreme court’s decision last year overturning Roe v Wade and leaving decisions about abortion access to states. Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi have banned abortion at all stages of pregnancy, while Georgia forbids the procedure after cardiac activity can be detected, which is around six weeks.
“We have the opportunity to lead the national debate about the importance of protecting life and giving every child the opportunity to be born and find his or her purpose,” said the Republican representative Jenna Persons-Mulicka, who carried the bill in the house.
Florida’s six-week ban will take effect only if the state’s current 15-week ban is upheld in an ongoing legal challenge that is before the state supreme court, which is controlled by conservatives.
Democrats and abortion-rights groups have criticized Florida’s proposal as extreme because many women do not yet realize they are pregnant until after six weeks.
The bill contains some exceptions, including to save the woman’s life. Abortions for pregnancies involving rape or incest would be allowed until 15 weeks of pregnancy, provided a woman has documentation such as a restraining order or police report. DeSantis has called the rape and incest provisions sensible.
Drugs used in medication-induced abortions – which make up the majority of those provided nationally – could be dispensed only in person or by a physician under the Florida bill. Separately, nationwide access to the abortion pill mifepristone is being challenged in court.
“I can’t think of any bill that’s going to provide more protections to more people who are more vulnerable than this piece of legislation,” said the Republican representative Mike Beltran, who said the bill’s exceptions and six-week timeframe represented a compromise.
Abortion bans are popular among some religious conservatives who are part of the GOP voting base, but the issue has motivated many others to vote for Democrats. Republicans in recent weeks and months have suffered defeats in elections centered on abortion access in states such as Kentucky, Michigan and Wisconsin.
“Have we learned nothing?” the house Democratic minority leader Fentrice Driskell said of recent elections in other states. “Do we not listen to our constituents and to the people of Florida and what they are asking for?”
DeSantis, who often places himself on the front lines of culture war issues, has said he backs the six-week ban but has appeared uncharacteristically tepid on the bill. He has often said: “We welcome pro-life legislation,” when asked about the policy.
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