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 The approval on a party-line 78-39 vote moments before midnight sent
consideration of the legislation to the state Senate, which is
expected to pass the measure in the near future. Florida Governor
Ron DeSantis, a Republican, has likewise signaled his support for
the bill.
Enactment in the Tallahassee statehouse would significantly reduce
access to late-term abortions for women across the U.S. Southeast,
many of whom travel hundreds of miles to end pregnancies in Florida
because of stricter abortion laws in surrounding states.
Republican lawmakers around the country have introduced bills
mirroring a 15-week abortion ban enacted by Mississippi in 2018 and
now under review by the Supreme Court on appeal, after lower courts
blocked the measure as unconstitutional. Arizona's Senate and West
Virginia's House passed similar 15-week abortion bans on Tuesday.
The Supreme Court has indicated its willingness to allow
Mississippi's law to stand, even though it conflicts with the
landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision establishing a woman's right to
end her pregnancy before a fetus is viable, typically around 24
weeks. Besides seeking reinstatement of its abortion law, the state
of Mississippi has asked the high court to overturn Roe v. Wade
altogether.
Florida's measure makes exceptions to the 15-week rule only in cases
when the mother is at risk of death or "irreversible physical
impairment," or if the fetus has a fatal abnormality. No exceptions
for rape or incest are included.
Final action on the measure followed several hours of passionate
debate between opponents and supporters of the bill.
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 Representative Robin Bartelman, a Democrat and
self-described "Catholic for choice," said the
bill inserts the will of legislators into the
most private of healthcare decisions, adding: "I
feel as a woman it is my right to make choices
about my body."
Republican David Borrero countered that Roe v.
Wade was a fundamentally flawed ruling that
should be overturned because it "failed to
recognize the humanity and the personhood of the
unborn."
The state currently permits abortions up to 24
weeks without a mandatory waiting period,
meaning a woman can terminate her pregnancy the
day she arrives at a clinic. A
2017 survey by the Guttmacher Institute, an abortion rights advocacy
research group, counted 65 abortion-providing sites in Florida that
year, more than triple the number of any other state in the South.
"So a 15-week abortion ban would have a very big impact on access to
care for Floridians and those in the South," Elizabeth Nash, a
Guttmacher state policy expert, told Reuters.
Anti-abortion legislators hope the 15-week bans would withstand
legal challenges as Mississippi's case is pending. The Supreme
Court's ruling in that case is expected this spring.
Florida's bill would take effect July 1 if enacted.
(Reporting by Gabriella Borter in New York; Additional reporting by
Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Colleen Jenkins, Cynthia
Osterman and Raju Gopalakrishnan)
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