World News | Florida GOP passes 6-week abortion ban, DeSantis backs

TALAHASEE, April 14 (AP) — The Republican-dominated Florida legislature on Thursday approved a ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, a proposal backed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis as he Preparations are underway for an expected presidential campaign.

DeSantis is expected to sign the bill into law. Florida currently prohibits abortions after 15 weeks.

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The six-week ban would give DeSantis a key political victory among Republican primary voters as he prepares to launch a presidential campaign built on his national brand as a conservative standard-bearer.

The policy will also have broader implications for abortion access across the South after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year and left decisions on access to the states. Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi ban abortions at all stages of pregnancy, while Georgia bans abortions after heart activity is detected (about six weeks).

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Democrats and abortion rights groups say the Florida proposal would ban nearly all abortions because many women don’t realize they’re pregnant at six weeks.

The bill contained some exceptions, including saving the woman’s life. Abortions for rape or incest are permitted before 15 weeks of pregnancy if the woman has documentation such as a restraining order or a police report. DeSantis called the rape and incest provisions sensible.

Under Florida’s law, medications for medical abortions — which make up the majority of those available nationwide — can only be dispensed in person or by a doctor. Separately, nationwide access to the abortion drug mifepristone is being challenged in court.

Florida’s six-week ban will only go into effect if the state’s current 15-week ban is upheld in an ongoing legal challenge before the conservative-controlled state Supreme Court.

“I can’t think of any bill that would provide more protections to more vulnerable groups than this legislation,” said Republican Rep. Mike Beltran, who said the bill’s exceptions and six-week Time limits represent a compromise.

Abortion bans are popular among some religious conservatives in the Republican voting base, but the issue has prompted many others to vote for Democrats. Republicans have suffered defeats in abortion-centric elections in states including Kentucky, Michigan and Wisconsin in recent weeks and months.

“Have we learned nothing?” House Democratic Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell said of recent elections in other states. “Haven’t we listened to our constituents and the people of Florida and what they want?”

DeSantis, who has often placed himself on the front lines of culture war issues, said he supported the six-week moratorium but was uncharacteristically on the bill. When asked about the policy, he often said, “We welcome anti-abortion legislation.”

DeSantis, who is expected to announce his candidacy for president after the May session, could take the White House in part because of conservative Republicans in the state legislature this year.

Democrats, who have no power at any level of state government, have mostly turned to delaying tactics and protests against the bill, which easily passed partisan votes in both chambers. The Senate approved it last week, and the House did the same on Thursday.

A Democratic senator and chairman of the Florida Democratic Party has been arrested and charged with trespassing during protests against the six-week ban in Tallahassee. In a last-ditch effort to delay passage of the bill in the House on Thursday, Democrats proposed dozens of amendments to the proposal, all of which were rejected by Republicans.

Democratic Rep. Felicia Simone Robinson said: “Women’s health and personal choice are being stolen. So I ask: Is Florida really a free state?” (AP)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)