TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — After receiving over a dozen amendments before floor debate, the proposed 15-week Florida abortion ban came before the full Senate for a question and answer session, where lawmakers were to vote on each amendment and ask questions about the bill’s impacts.
Overnight, the 13 amendments were added to the bill by Democratic state senators, focused on creating financial and medical insurance obligations to the fathers of unborn children to start at 15 weeks of gestation, and creating new requirements for vasectomies in Florida, among others. By 5:30 p.m., all of the amendments had been withdrawn or failed to pass muster for inclusion in the final version of legislation.
During the amendment vote process, Democratic opponents of the abortion ban explicitly resigned themselves to the fact that the bill would pass. Instead, they remained focused on getting what they call reasonable amendments included in the final version of the bill before a floor vote.
Some amendments filed reintroduced abortion ban exceptions for rape, incest and human trafficking victims. The amendment, introduced by Sen. Lauren Book, D-Broward, failed to be voted into the bill during the question and answer session. The vote was verbal only, at Book’s request.
House Bill 5 and Senate Bill 146 have been controversial politically since they were introduced. As written, the bills would decrease the amount of time a pregnant woman in Florida has to seek an abortion from 24 weeks to 15 weeks. In cases of a fatal fetal abnormality, abortions may be allowed but would require two separate physicians to submit certification in writing that the unborn child would die upon birth.
The amendment filed by state senator Tina Scott Polsky, D-Palm Beach to require that pregnant mothers be able to request child support payments at 15 weeks of pregnancy failed to pass an inclusion vote in the bill. Additionally, Sen. Annette Taddeo, D-Miami-Dade’s vasectomy amendment also failed.
Senator Linda Stewart, D-Orlando’s amendment to include mental health concerns for medically necessary abortion ban exceptions failed to muster a vote to be included in the proposed bill.
The fight over the legislation between state lawmakers comes as the U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear arguments about similar legislation from Mississippi, and previous bills filed to restrict abortions in Texas.
Still, the abortion ban legislation has yet to face a single defeat in any legislature committee. The next step for the bill, if it survives today’s Q&A session, would be a full floor vote on a finalized version of the proposed law. Once that step is complete, it would head to Gov. Ron DeSantis to sign into law. He has already signaled his support of the legislation.
