TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – Florida Democrats filed a bill Wednesday in an effort to repeal the state’s six-week abortion ban.
House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell, who represents families in Hillsborough County, said the legislation comes because it’s a mandate from voters.
“We simply want to implement the will of the voters and repeal Florida's six-week abortion ban,” Driskell said.
The Democratic state house leader has a goal of restoring rules to the way they were before Roe v. Wade. To get to that point, Driskell is throwing her support behind Senate Bill 870.
The two-page measure would ban abortions after viability, which medical experts often say is around 22 weeks. However, the bill’s language does not define the number of weeks. The bill calls for the physician to determine viability. The exceptions include if the mother’s life is in danger or there are fatal fetal abnormalities.
“Florida’s near total abortion ban simply puts women's lives at risk and threatens to put doctors in jail just for providing the best care to their patients,” Driskell said.
Anti-abortion advocate Charles DiMarco has concerns about the bill, like the meaning of the word “viability,” and he questions what happens to parental permission for teens who ask for access to an abortion.
“They're removing a lot of what is in there regarding time bound, age, and again using words like viability which are very vague," DiMarco said.
DiMarco is the CEO of New Life Solutions, based in Largo. For 40 years, the organization has been helping families choose different options without accessing an abortion.
“If you were to talk to an abortion doctor, they may say viability is not until that child is outside of the womb. If you talk about patients’ health, it's not just physical health, it could be monetary,” DiMarco said.
In November, 57% of voters supported Amendment 4 that would’ve enshrined the right to an abortion in the state constitution. The measure failed since it didn’t reach the 60% threshold.
“What they're doing is dialing it all the way the other way, where the majority of Americans, regardless of where they fall on do not want late term abortions," DiMarco said.
He's referring to a Harvard-Harris poll from November 2023 that found 73% of voters nationally would like to see a limit to abortions after 15 weeks. But the minority leader said democrats are doing what Florida voters want, despite the GOP having a supermajority.
“I'll be honest, we understand vote counts. Like, I understand the obvious math the democrats are in the minority, and we don't have the numbers that we need to pass this on our own,” Driskell said.
The minority leader also said politicians should not be involved in reproductive healthcare. She said that should be among the patient, the doctor, and their faith.
It is unclear when it comes to the total number of abortions over the years, since some people use medicine through the mail. However, the Guttmacher Institute has been helping keep record of clinician-provided abortions in Florida and across the nation.
Click here to see the data.