Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a 15-week abortion ban into legislation on Thursday, becoming a member of a number of different Republican states which have imposed related restrictions on the process.
The brand new legislation – which is able to go into impact July 1 – will prohibit abortions previous 15 weeks, a dramatic minimize from the present restrict of 24 weeks.
It doesn’t enable for exemptions for pregnancies causes by rape, incest or human trafficking. Nevertheless, it does allow the process when an abortion is critical to avoid wasting the mom’s life, stop critical damage or if the fetus has a deadly abnormality.
Florida’s Republican-led Senate handed the invoice early final month in a 23-15 vote.
“It will signify probably the most vital protections for all times which were enacted on this state in a technology” DeSantis mentioned Thursday when signing the invoice.
“We consider that each one these children deserve a chance,” the governor added. “We’re not simply giving lip service to that, we’re really signing laws.”
In latest months, a number of different states have enacted related orders banning the process after a sure variety of weeks or criminalizing all of it collectively.
On Tuesday, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a invoice making it unlawful to carry out an abortion besides within the case of medical emergencies. The order will penalize any supplier who does so with as much as $100,000 in fines and 10 years in jail.
On Wednesday, Kentucky’s Republican-led legislature overrode Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s veto of a 15-week abortion ban. The invoice would require suppliers to report every process to the state and supply info comparable to the rationale for the abortion, the particular person’s handle, age, race, ethnicity and age of their sexual accomplice, based on Axios.
Abortion suppliers within the state, comparable to Deliberate Parenthood, have determined to not carry out any procedures till the invoice is repealed or struck down in court docket.
Late final month, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey additionally permitted laws banning abortions after 15 weeks besides in “medical emergencies.”
Republican lawmakers in West Virginia have additionally proposed laws barring abortions after 15 weeks, forgoing exceptions for rape and incest.
In March, Gov. Jim Justice signed into legislation one other invoice which bans having the process primarily based on the likelihood or concern that the fetus could develop a incapacity comparable to Down Syndrome.
At the moment, the US Supreme Court docket is weighing an analogous 15-week abortion ban in Mississpi that decrease courts dominated unconstitutional. The conservative-led court docket is anticipated to uphold the legislation, sparking issues over the soundness of the 1973 ruling of Roe v. Wade.
The court docket is predicted to launch its ruling in June. Over two dozen states are anticipated to utterly ban or extremely limit abortion if the court docket decides to overturn Roe, based on the Related Press.
Some states have gone even a step additional by proposing banning abortions after six weeks, which is usually sooner than many ladies know they’re pregnant.
Texas permitted such a ban in September, solely permitting exceptions for medical emergencies.
The measure – which has been extremely criticized by abortion suppliers and activists – permits personal residents to encforce the legislation, fairly than price officers. It authorizes lawsuits with a possible reward of as much as $10,000 in opposition to clinics, medical doctors and anybody who “aids or abets” an abortion carried out after cardiac exercise is detected — which usually occurs round six weeks into being pregnant.
In December, the Supreme Court docket dominated that whereas lawsuits difficult the legislation may transfer ahead, the laws would stay in impact. Beforehand, the court docket declined to dam the legislation from going into impact in response to an Eleventh-hour problem.
Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed an analogous invoice on March 23, nevertheless the order has since been blocked by the state’s Supreme Court docket. The state has till April 28 to reply.
