Florida House ‘Heartbeat’ Abortion Bill Advances

Florida’s “heartbeat” abortion bill has cleared its second and final House committee of reference by a party-line vote, making the next step for the bill to go to the House floor.

The House Health and Human Services Committee voted 14-6 to advance the measure in the House, reports Florida Politics.

The Senate’s companion bill has already cleared both committees and was scheduled to be on the chamber’s floor Thursday afternoon for a vote.

Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulicka, R-Naples, while introducing the House bill, said it “provides for new limits on the termination of pregnancies.”

The current Florida law, passed in 2022, set a 15-week threshold that legislators said was a reasonable compromise when it passed just a year ago.

Persons-Mulicka said the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs ruling, which overruled Roe v. Wade, has made the issue of “life and how to protect life” under the legislature’s “purview.”

She further said the new legislation reflects the consensus in the medical and scientific communities that a fetus has a heartbeat by the 6th week of gestation.

However, Persons-Mulicka added that as she believes life begins at conception, she doesn’t believe the six weeks deadline is a “magic line,” and that she would “protect life from day one.”

In the future, the legislature could move toward a total abortion ban, as Persons-Mulicka said “we cannot predict what a future legislature might do.”

The current bill, however, offers a compromise that allows abortions up to the 15th week of pregnancy if a woman was impregnated through rape or incest. Last year’s legislation did not allow any exceptions for those cases.

There are other exceptions, including if a pregnant woman is judged by two doctors to be in danger of dying or suffering “substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function” other than a psychological condition. If there is only one doctor available, that person’s recommendation would be allowed to suffice.

The current legislation also permits abortions during the first two trimesters if the fetus has an abnormality.

Two amendments were floated during the House committee step, including one that failed from Democrat Rep. Kelly Skidmore that would have allowed informed consent through telehealth consultations for patients living more than 100 miles away from the nearest abortion provider.

Republican Rep. Ralph Massullo pushed back, pointing out the stress that is brought by an abortion decision, which Skidmore called “offensive.”

She said it suggested that “women can’t make decisions and don’t know what they’re doing,” but her closing argument didn’t sway the committee.

The other amendment, from Republican Rep. Jennifer Canady, was approved, to allocate $25 million for the expanded Florida Pregnancy Care Network.

Critics call the network “fake clinics” that are used to try to discourage women from having abortions.

GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis told reporters Tuesday he’s willing to sign the pro-life legislation.