Florida was an abortion destination. Now it will ban procedures after six weeks

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Miami: Florida legislators have voted to prohibit abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, culminating a rapid effort by elected Republicans and Governor Ron DeSantis to transform the state into one of the most restrictive in the country.

DeSantis, a likely 2024 Republican presidential contender, has indicated he will sign the new ban, which would end the state’s long-held role as a destination for women from across the Deep South seeking abortions and force them to travel further, to states such as North Carolina or Illinois, for care.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has signed into law a ban on abortions after 15 weeks. And says he will now approve the ban after six.Credit: AP

The Florida House of Representatives voted 70-40 in favour of the bill, which passed the state Senate earlier this month. Seven Republicans, mostly from Southeast Florida and the Tampa area, broke with their party and voted against the ban. Nine representatives did not vote.

DeSantis is expected to sign the six-week ban despite the complicated politics the issue presents. The new restriction would help him, to an extent, with conservative Republicans in a presidential primary but would likely be far less appealing to many moderate Republicans and independent voters in a general election.

As recently as a year ago, the state allowed abortions until 24 weeks of pregnancy. Then, last spring, DeSantis and state representatives limited access to the procedure after 15 weeks, a major change that took effect in July and is still being legally challenged. The new six-week ban is contingent, in part, on whether the Florida Supreme Court upholds the 15-week restriction.

Most of the 13 states that prohibit almost all abortions are in the South, including Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. Florida would now join Georgia at the next-most-restrictive level with the six-week ban, around the time when foetal cardiac activity can be detected. At that early gestation stage, many people do not yet realise that they are pregnant.

The new law would also prohibit doctors from prescribing medication abortions through telehealth, making Florida’s six-week ban even more restrictive than Georgia’s, according to Kaiser Family Foundation, and from dispensing the pills by mail. And it would bar state funds from being used for a person to travel outside Florida for an abortion, except for when it is a medical emergency or when federal law requires it.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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