Two years after Roe vs. Wade reversal, Florida is home to restrictive abortion bans | Opinion
Two years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the case that overturned Roe v. Wade, was leaked to the public. Suddenly, reproductive freedoms that had been protected for nearly 50 years were in peril.
In the two years since, Republican extremists have wasted no time capitalizing on avenues to annihilate reproductive freedom across the country, including introducing more than 380 bills attacking access to reproductive health care in states.
Abortion restrictions earlier in pregnancy than the standard set by Roe are now active in 21 states, and one in three individuals of reproductive age don’t have the freedom to make their own health decisions.
In Florida, the fall of Roe paved the way for one of the nation’s most restrictive abortion bans, which bans abortion before one may even know they’re pregnant. Before this ban, Floridians suffered at the hands of the extremist policies passed by Republicans.
Last year, Anya Cook, a woman from Margate, delivered her 16-week-old stillborn at home because she could not receive abortion care. After discovering she had experienced a pre-labor rupture of the membranes, she was given antibiotics and sent home to wait. She lost a large amount of blood and almost died.
With abortion now banned after six weeks in Florida, we will see more of these stories. And extremist Republicans have signaled that they won’t stop at abortion. In Iowa and Alabama, they are aiming for in vitro fertilization or IVF.
In Idaho, they are coming for lifesaving care, playing politics with people’s lives. The GOP, led by Donald Trump, poses a grave threat to the reproductive rights we have left.
But the pro-choice movement is fighting back. In 2023, – in response to the one year anniversary of the Dobbs’ leak– Vice President Kamala Harris gave a powerful rebuke at an EMILYs List podium, famously and forcefully declaring, “How dare they?”
The all-out assault on reproductive freedom we see in Florida and beyond shows what Republicans have and will dare to do. As women across Florida are having their reproductive fights ripped away, the VP’s “Fight for Reproductive Freedoms” tour stop in Jacksonville on May 1 is a reminder to Floridians of who is responsible and which ticket will have their backs. It serves as a rallying cry for the majority of Americans who believe that individuals should have the right to make their own choices about their bodies.
Since Dobbs, Republicans have chipped away at our rights, while the Democratic Party has unleashed the power of a historic, unapologetic, pro-choice message. The difference could not be more stark: one side wants to impose a world where tomorrow’s daughters have fewer rights than they do today, and one is fiercely fighting to protect our freedoms.
With VP Harris leading the charge, it has never been clearer that who we elect matters.
In Florida, U.S. Senate Democratic candidate Debbie Mucarsel-Powell of Miami has focused on the contrast between her support for reproductive rights and incumbent Republican Sen. Rick Scott’s support for Florida’s extreme ban.
Miami U.S. House candidate Lucia Baez-Gellar, who is challenging Republican Maria Elvira Salazar, has told her own lifesaving abortion story – another clear reminder of how this issue impacts families. Republican candidates know their positions are unpopular, and they will try to downplay their extremism. Voters must hold them accountable by voting them out.
In addition to supporting pro-choice champions, Florida voters have an opportunity to reject this draconian worldview by enshrining the right to abortion in the state’s constitution this November with an amendment.
We know that in every instance where abortion has been on the ballot, voters have chosen freedom – in California, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, Vermont and Ohio. Florida will be no different. The stakes in the 2024 election cannot be overstated, in Florida and across the country.
Every day between now and Election Day, we need to show up for the candidates supporting women’s rights, starting with our vice president, who is leading this nationwide charge.
Jessica Mackler is president of EMILYs List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics dedicated to electing Democratic pro-choice women up and down the ballot.
