{"id":50610,"date":"2021-09-22T20:18:03","date_gmt":"2021-09-23T00:18:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/?p=50610"},"modified":"2021-09-22T20:18:16","modified_gmt":"2021-09-23T00:18:16","slug":"texas-style-heartbeat-abortion-bill-filed-in-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/2021\/09\/texas-style-heartbeat-abortion-bill-filed-in-florida\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas-style \u2018heartbeat\u2019 abortion bill filed in Florida"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

State Rep. Webster Barnaby, R-Deltona, filed a proposal Wednesday that aims to follow Texas\u2019 lead in blocking physicians from performing abortions if there is a \u201cdetectable fetal heartbeat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The 40-page proposal (HB 167), dubbed the \u201cFlorida Heartbeat Act,\u201d would require doctors to test for fetal heartbeats, which can occur six weeks into pregnancy. If heartbeats are detected, doctors \u201cmay not knowingly perform or induce an abortion\u201d on pregnant women, under the proposal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The measure would make an exception if physicians believe that abortions are necessary because of medical emergencies that threaten women\u2019s lives. It would not include exceptions for pregnancies that occur because of rape or incest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bill, which is filed for consideration during the legislative session that will start in January, mirrors a new Texas law that bans almost all abortions. The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, recently refused to block the Texas law from taking effect, though that was not a final ruling on whether the law is constitutional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barnaby said he had \u201cno comments at this time\u201d about his bill when asked Wednesday by reporters in the Capitol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But House and Senate Democratic leaders quickly condemned the bill, which came as lawmakers were in Tallahassee for committee meetings in advance of the 2022 legislative session.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book, D- Plantation, called the bill an \u201coutright attack on women\u201d and pledged that Senate Democrats would fight it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWomen\u2019s fears have been realized with the filing of an extreme Texas-style anti-abortion bill in the Florida House. Rooted in rhetoric instead of science, the bill cruelly strips women of their right to choose what happens to their own bodies,\u201d Book said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

House Minority Co-leader Evan Jenne, D-Dania Beach, told The News Service of Florida that Democrats have been bracing for such an abortion bill to be filed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNone of us are shocked, surprised or anything like that. We knew it would be here. Look, we have every intention of putting up a severe, very strong fight whenever that bill comes to the floor,\u201d Jenne said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Jenne acknowledged that in the Republican-dominated Legislature, it will be difficult for Democrats to block the proposal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cChances are that it is probably going to be law. We need to do everything we can to either water it down or make it so it is constitutionally unviable,\u201d Jenne said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

House and Senate Republican leaders have signaled support for legislation restricting access to abortion during the upcoming session. But they have been less clear about whether Florida would follow Texas\u2019 approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Incoming House Speaker Paul Renner, R-Palm Coast, didn\u2019t directly answer reporters\u2019 questions Tuesday about whether he would support an outright ban on abortion. Renner said he wants to move in a \u201cpro-life direction\u201d during session.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not going to follow Texas\u2019 lead necessarily, we\u2019ll follow our own lead. And again, hear from all sides, have a real deep conversation about the balancing of interests on both sides and land in a place that I hope moves us in a direction towards a pro-life decision,\u201d Renner, who will become speaker after the 2022 elections, told reporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Renner added that it is \u201ca hard thing, once you get weeks in, to argue that that\u2019s not a human life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senate President Wilton Simpson, R-Trilby, recently called the Texas law \u201ca new approach\u201d and the Supreme Court ruling \u201cencouraging.\u201d Gov. Ron DeSantis this month told reporters that he welcomes legislation to restrict abortions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In July, DeSantis joined 10 other Republican governors in signing a brief that called for the U.S. Supreme Court to reject the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision and leave abortion issues to states.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

State Rep. Webster Barnaby, R-Deltona, filed a proposal Wednesday that aims to follow Texas\u2019 lead in blocking physicians from performing abortions if there is a \u201cdetectable fetal heartbeat.\u201d The 40-page… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":50611,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[706],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50610"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50610"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50610\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50613,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50610\/revisions\/50613"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}