This past Thursday, Ron DeSantis, the Republican Governor of Florida, has officially signed a piece of legislation that outright bans all late-term abortions after the 15th week of gestation.
The law, titled HB 5, does allow a few exceptions for when the mother’s life is in danger due to the pregnancy or in danger of “irreversible physical impairment,” or if the unborn child has a fetal abnormality, such as Down Syndrome. Most noteworthy, however, it does not offer any exceptions for rape.
“These are protections for babies that have heartbeats, that can feel pain,” stated DeSantis when speaking about HB 5 back in March, when he stated that he would put his approving signature on the legislation. “And this [15 weeks] is very, very late. And so I think the protections are warranted. And I think that we’ll be able to sign that in short order.”
There it is: @GovRonDeSantis bans late term abortions in Florida! pic.twitter.com/aXqDQDO93V
— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) April 14, 2022
The Republican governor signed HB 5 as groups of pro-life activists and other Republican legislators sound the call for federal officials to take a hard look into the abortions of five preemie-sized babies that an activist group claims to have intercepted just outside of a Washington, D.C. abortion clinic.
Police officials within D.C. have stated that they will not be performing any autopsies on the remains, which has forced many Republicans such as Chip Roy, a rep from Texas, to issue questions as to whether “Mayor Bowser and her radically pro-abortion cronies” are avoiding autopsies for basic ideological reasons.
This new piece of legislation has received especially strong pushback from the administration of President Joe Biden and from various abortion supporters and activist groups such as the Center for Reproductive Rights.
“If this ban is allowed to take effect, Floridians will be forced to travel more than 1,000 miles roundtrip to get an abortion after 15 weeks,” stated Elisabeth Smith, the Director of State Policy & Advocacy at the Center for Reproductive Rights, in remarks made in late March.
“The stakes in the Supreme Court right now could not be higher,” she claimed. “Americans of reproductive age today have never known a world in which they do not have the right to abortion.”
The press secretary for DeSantis issued intense criticism at Biden in the wake of the president badmouthing the state’s new pro-life legislation.
“Last night, the Republican-controlled Florida legislature passed a dangerous bill that will severely restrict women’s access to reproductive health care,” stated Biden in a tweet posted near the end of March. “My Administration will not stand for the continued erosion of women’s constitutional rights.”
At that time, Christina Pushaw, a spokeswoman for DeSantis, put froth a response to the president by he refused to mention that the bill protects unborn babies after 15 weeks, highlighting that the Biden administration has quite frequently refused to talk about where it puts itsline concerning abortion. This one odd choice has caused most people to infer that it has no qualms in regards to abortion taking place at any stage of the pregnancy.
“That is when they can already feel pain and they’re getting close to viability,” she stated. “Babies have been born at 20 weeks and survived. What you’re arguing for is unfettered LATE TERM abortion.”