Gabrielle Russon
Democratic lawmakers have filed a measure to overturn the state’s six-week abortion ban in a move made three months after voters failed to pass an initiative protecting abortion rights.
Amendment 4 received 57% of the vote — not enough to cross the 60% supermajority threshold to pass.
“If Amendment 4 had been a candidate, it would have been elected to office convincingly. It had widespread support from Republicans, Democrats and independents,” said House Democratic Leader Fentrice Driskell at a press conference. “We simply want to implement the will of the voters and repeal Florida’s six week abortion ban.”
SB 870, filed by Senate Democratic Leader Pro Tempore Tracie Davis, would remove the six week-ban from current law and allow abortions until viability, which is considered to be around 24 weeks of pregnancy. Driskell is planning to file a House companion bill.
“They spent $120 million from radical leftists lying about Florida’s abortion laws in an attempt to pass Amendment 4 and they failed. They tried to make abortion the centerpiece of the presidential election and they failed,” said Sara Johnson, Statewide Director of Florida Voters Against Extremism, which led the campaign against Amendment 4. “Now they want politicians to do what the people of Florida refused to do, and they will fail again.”
Democrats acknowledged upfront that the bill is likely going nowhere in Florida, where Republicans led by Gov. Ron DeSantis campaigned fiercely against Amendment 4 last cycle and the Republican-controlled Legislature has been tightening restrictions on abortions over the years. The state’s six-week ban went into effect in 2024.
“I understand the obvious math, which is that the Democrats are in the minority, and unfortunately, we don’t have the numbers that we need to pass this on our own,” said Driskell, a Tampa Democrat.
To change Florida’s law, Driskell said Democrats are inviting Republicans to join the conversation. Driskell was asked if she considered getting a Republican — such as the Democrat turned GOP Rep. Susan Valdés — to co-sponsor the legislation.
“I wouldn’t presume to know, actually, what any of my Republican colleagues think about this, including Representatives who may have changed some of their core beliefs recently,” Driskell said.
Democrats raised alarms during Wednesday’s press conference, saying some women are being forced to carry unviable pregnancies to term or don’t realize they are pregnant until after six weeks, when it’s too late to get an abortion under Florida’s law.
That’s not stopping women from getting abortion pills online and ending their pregnancies in their homes without a doctor present, said Rep. Anna Eskamani, an Orlando Democrat.
“This is an unprecedented environment, but the reality is that if you wish to end your pregnancy, you will find a way to end your pregnancy, but you may be turning toward unsafe means to do so,” said Eskamani, a former Planned Parenthood staffer.
The Regular Session convenes March 4.
2 comments
Ron Ogden
February 19, 2025 at 3:32 pm
Useless, divisive and poisonous to any hope of building bipartisan good feeling in the process, it probably–hopefully–won’t even get a hearing.
Just consider the language: allowed until some nebulous time in a pregnancy called “viability.” When is that, Rep. Driskell?
“Well, I don’t know but me and the girls will let you know when we figure it out.”
This is nothing but red meat to feed to the baying hounds.
Rita Joseph
February 19, 2025 at 3:42 pm
In every pregnancy, there are two human beings. One larger, essentially older, pregnant and vulnerable: the other much smaller, newer, very young, utterly defenseless.
Both are unique, lively human beings. Both share basic human rights that don’t depend on size or age or how they look or how we rate them. Both are deserving of benign health measures, of being treated with equal concern and care.
We parents own the responsibility to secure the blessings of liberty for our children: and just so, will our children own the responsibility when we grow old, and ill and needy, to protect our rights, our liberty, our inherent dignity and equal worth as human beings. We belong to each other — there is no ownership, only human solidarity — an honorable solidarity with what Abe Lincoln called “the whole great family of man.”