New golf for reproductive rights in the United States. The legislators of the State of Florida, with a Republican majority, have approved this Thursday by seventy votes to forty a bill that prohibits abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, a period in which a woman may not even know yet that she is pregnant. The measure has the support of Governor Ron DeSantis, a potential Republican candidate for the presidency of the country and who is expected to sign it into law.
So far, Florida law allows abortion up to fifteen weeks into the pregnancy. The bill would only maintain that possibility in cases of rape, incest or human trafficking, as long as the woman had the necessary documentation to prove it, such as a police report or a restraining order. If the health of the mother is in danger, two doctors will have to certify it.
In addition, the measure also prohibits the telematic supply or by mail of abortion medication. These types of pills can only be prescribed and administered in person.
The move strengthens DeSantis’s position ahead of the primaries in which the Republican Party will nominate its candidate for the November 2024 presidential election. The current favorite, by far, is former White House tenant Donald Trump, al that the polls give an advantage of more than thirty points over the governor of Florida. DeSantis, who boasts of his conservative credentials, is second in preference to party members, who are increasingly leaning to the right.
Democrats and abortion rights advocates criticize the law as overly restrictive: considering that, given the short time to terminate an unwanted pregnancy, in practice amounts to a near-absolute ban. “Let’s be clear. This law would deny women in Florida access to basic health care,” the vice president tweeted. kamala harris.
Extremists in the Florida State Legislature officially passed an abortion ban after six weeks, that’s before many even know they’re pregnant.
Let’s be clear: this law would deny Florida women access to basic health care.
— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) April 13, 2023
The bill joins a series of similar measures approved in different states, especially in the south of the country, after the Supreme Court annulled last year roe versus calf, the judicial precedent that since 1973 allowed the federal government to guarantee the right to abortion throughout the national territory. The decision of the Supreme Court awarded each state the power to decide whether or not to authorize the right within its territory.
Until now, states such as Alabama, Louisiana, Texas or Mississippi have prohibited abortion at any stage of pregnancy. Georgia only allows it before the fetal heartbeat can be detected, around six weeks into the pregnancy.
But while abortion restrictions are popular with a large part of the conservative base, the majority of the American population supports maintaining that right, according to polls. Defending him was one of the pillars of the Democratic campaign in the midterm elections last November, in which that party resolved better results than expected. And it is expected that in 2024 it will once again play a central role.
In states as different as Kentucky, in the conservative “Bible Belt,” Michigan far from the splendor brought by the golden years of the automobile industry, Republicans have suffered major defeats in electoral battles in which abortion has been one of the main issues. The last of them, in Wisconsin, where the Supreme Court has had a Democratic majority for a week, after Judge Janet Protasiewicz won the referendum against her adversary Daniel Kelly after a campaign in which the magistrate warned of the risk of an absolute prohibition of that right in the state.
The bill in Florida was approved on the same day that the US government announced that it will appeal to the Supreme Court after a Texas judge canceled last Friday the authorization of mifepristone, one of the most widely used drugs in the United States. medical abortions, and an appeals court re-allowed access only with restrictions.
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