Despite abortion activists’ continuous disruptions, a Florida House committee advanced legislation Thursday to protect unborn babies by banning abortions after 15 weeks.
Florida Politics reports pro-abortion protesters repeatedly interrupted the meeting with shouts and chants before the state House Healthcare Appropriations Subcommittee voted 10-5 to move forward with the bill.
The Reducing Fetal and Infant Mortality Act (House Bill 5) would ban abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Exceptions would be allowed if the mother’s life is at risk or the unborn baby has a fatal disorder. It also includes measures to reduce infant mortality and a requirement that abortion facilities report suspected human trafficking cases to the state.
The legislation has a good chance of passing the Republican-controlled state legislature, and Gov. Ron DeSantis recently “welcomed” pro-life legislation. Polls consistently show strong public support for banning abortion after the first trimester as well.
TAKE ACTION: To support this pro-life bill and others, Contact Florida House lawmakers.
On Thursday, committee members listened to more than an hour of public comment before ending public discussion to allow lawmakers time to debate before they voted, according to the report.
However, a female abortion activist interrupted their discussion, and security guards escorted her out of the room. As they did, other abortion activists began chanting “Let her speak!”, eventually prompting lawmakers to stop the meeting and clear the room, WTSP 10 Tampa Bay reports. Later, they allowed people back inside and reconvened the meeting.
Abortion activists accused lawmakers of not allowing them to speak, but Andy Shirvell, executive director for Florida Voice for the Unborn, who attended the meeting, said the abortion activists monopolized the public comment period.
“One pro-abortion activist after another testified, with only one pro-life advocate able to speak,” Shirvell said. “Many pro-lifers, including myself, were there to testify but we never got the chance.”
He speculated that the committee chair may have given more time to abortion activists in an attempt to mollify them, but the opposite occurred.
“As grateful as Florida Voice for the Unborn is for today’s victory, nonetheless what took place at the subcommittee hearing was completely unacceptable,” Shirvell said.
Before the vote, one pro-life lawmaker shared a very personal story about being raped when she was 18 and serving in the military, according to the report. State Rep. Michelle Salzman, R-Pensacola, said a military officer forced himself on her and covered her mouth so she could not scream; he later was convicted. Despite the horrific violence that she experienced, she said she never considered aborting her unborn baby.
“It is imperative that in the testimony and the debate, that you understand that I do have a perspective and experiences that can relate to circumstances and examples used as reasons to obtain an abortion,” Salzman told lawmakers.
The 15-week abortion ban is modeled after a Mississippi law that the U.S. Supreme Court currently is considering. Many hope the case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, will prompt the justices overturn Roe v. Wade and allow states to protect unborn babies from abortion again.
Currently, states are prohibited from banning abortions before viability, about 22 weeks of pregnancy.
Since Roe in 1973, nearly 63.5 million unborn babies and hundreds, perhaps thousands, of mothers have died in supposedly “safe, legal” abortions.
TAKE ACTION: To support this pro-life bill and others, Contact Florida House lawmakers.
