By Maria Ortiz
A stricter abortion law that went into effect in Florida on Wednesday changed the law that allowed abortion up to 15 weeks of pregnancy, reduced that term to just six weeks of gestation and virtually prohibits exercising the right to abortion in the state.
The six-week abortion law signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis last year and upheld by the Florida Supreme Court earlier this month takes effect Wednesday and will likely affect thousands of women who require it.
The promulgation of the law and an abortion referendum to be presented to Florida voters in November They have turned Florida into one of the most important battlegrounds for women’s reproductive rights since the fall of Roe vs. Wade.
President Biden said in a statement about Florida’s abortion ban:
“An extreme abortion ban goes into effect today in Florida, banning reproductive health care at a point before many women even know they are pregnant. There is someone responsible for this nightmare: Donald Trump. Trump boasts that he overturned Roe v. Wade, making extreme bans like Florida’s possible, and says his plan is working “brilliantly.” He thinks it’s brilliant that more than four million women in Florida, and more than one in three women in the United States, cannot access the health care they need. He now wants to go even further and has made it very clear that, if he is elected, he would sign a national ban on abortion. Just yesterday, he once again came out in favor of punishing women for receiving the care they need.”
“Trump worries that voters will blame him for the cruelty and chaos he created. And he is right to be worried. Trump took away the rights and freedom of women in the United States. This November, voters will teach her a valuable lesson: don’t mess with the women of the United States,” Biden said.
Last year, more than 84,000 people had abortions in Florida, more than in almost any other state. Many of those patients traveled from other southern states where strict abortion laws were enacted following the Supreme Court decision that nullified access to the procedure.
Florida’s new abortion ban has an exception to save a woman’s life, as well as in cases of rape and incest, but health providers still They are prohibited from performing an abortion on a non-viable pregnancy that they know can become fatal, such as when the fetus is missing organs or implanted outside the uterus, until it actually becomes mortal.
Voters may be able to enshrine abortion rights in Florida’s constitution after a separate state Supreme Court ruling allowed a proposed constitutional amendment to be on the November ballot.
Keep reading:
– 6-week abortion ban goes into effect this week in Florida
– Idaho vs. United States: Supreme Court decides on emergency medical care for pregnant women
– Biden blamed Trump for abortion ban after 6 weeks in Florida