Florida Senate approves 6-week abortion ban amid protest, criticism

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Florida Senate on Monday passed a bill that bans most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, a measure that has faced sharp criticism and protests.

The 26-13 vote to approve Senate Bill 300, titled the "Heartbeat Protection Act," was largely along party lines, with Senate Republicans in the majority. The bill must still be approved by the House before it heads to Gov. Ron DeSantis' desk.

The debate leading up to the vote was interrupted several times by protesters in the gallery who stood up one by one while senators in favor of the ban explained their reasoning.

They shouted lines such as, "Don't like abortions? Ignore them like you ignore the 400,000 kids in foster care!" and "People will die!" The effort was organized by Women's Voices of Southwest Florida, a social welfare nonprofit that advocates for abortion access.

Bill sponsor Sen. Erin Grall gave a lengthy speech defending the legislation and repeating a medically contested claim that one can hear a fetal heartbeat at six weeks of pregnancy.

"We have all been touched by abortion, and we will continue to be, but I believe we can show each other love and compassion as we move to a culture of life," she said, "one which respects every single life that should be here with us today and in the future."

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Florida's 6-week abortion ban isn't law – yet

House Republicans and DeSantis are expected to approve the measure in the coming weeks.

But even with the governor's signature, the ban has another hurdle to clear. It all depends on how the Florida Supreme Court rules in a lawsuit challenging last year's 15-week abortion ban and whether the court will overturn decades of precedent that a right to privacy in the state Constitution applies to abortion. That decision isn't expected until after the lawmaking session ends in May.

Unlike the state's current 15-week ban, the measure approved by the Senate on Monday includes exceptions for victims of rape, incest and human trafficking to undergo the procedure up to 15 weeks of pregnancy. It also maintains exceptions to save the life of the mother and, up to the third trimester, in cases of fatal fetal abnormalities, as long as two physicians certify those circumstances in writing.

The ban, should it take effect, has wide-reaching implications for both Florida and the South. As states including Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana moved to ban abortion outright in the wake of the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade, Florida became a haven state for women from those states to obtain abortions.

The six-week ban would put Florida in line with Georgia in the second tier of most-restrictive states, although state Democrats, noting that many women don't know they're pregnant at six weeks, have called it a de facto ban.

"I trust the women of Florida to make their own decisions about something so important, dangerous and life-altering as caring and birthing and raising a child," said Democratic state Sen. Tina Polsky. "Do you?"

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Vote follows weeks of emotional testimony

Monday's vote follows weeks of emotional committee meetings in which Floridians on both sides of the debate shared personal stories on how abortion had touched their lives.

Bill supporters often agreed with Grall that abortion amounted to a moral decision that the Legislature must regulate to, in Grall's words, "restore the mental health of our country." Some wanted the Legislature to go even further and ban the procedure outright.

Among the bill critics were a number of obstetrician-gynecologists across the state who said such a restrictive measure would further complicate high-stakes medical decisions, putting lives at risk – especially in more rural parts of the state that lack adequate maternal care. Opponents also said that without additional resources for child care, health care and education, the bill would ensure that many more children will grow up in poverty.

The proposal includes $25 million to expand services provided by state-contracted pregnancy crisis centers to support new parents, which has faced intense criticism from Democrats. The House version of the bill calls for an expansion of services but doesn't allocate funding.

Of the 82,192 abortions performed in Florida last year, 75,118 took place in the first trimester of pregnancy, or before 12 weeks, according to state records. Six weeks is certain to bar many thousands of legal abortions.

Contributing: Thao Nguyen, USA TODAY; John Kennedy, Florida Capital Bureau; and Alicia Devine, the Tallahassee Democrat staff photographer Alicia Devine contributed to this report. Varn is statewide enterprise reporter for the Gannett/USA TODAY Network – Florida. You can reach her at kvarn@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY NETWORK: Florida six-week 'heartbeat' abortion ban clears Senate amid protest