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Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation banning abortions past 15 weeks on Thursday.
The legislation allows for abortions past 15 weeks only in situations involving a "fatal fetal abnormality," and makes no exceptions for rape or incest. The law limits the time an abortion is legal by nine weeks, as abortions were previously banned in the state past 24 weeks.
DeSantis emphasized that the legislation is not the only aspect of his pro-life agenda, adding that the bill also allocates funds to increase the number of infant mortality review boards across Florida.
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"If you're looking at what we've done this week, we're promoting fatherhood in Florida," DeSantis said. "We want our kids to have dads in the home. We want the fathers present and to take responsibility. It's the most important thing you can do is to take responsibility for the upbringing of your kids."
DeSantis was joined by numerous pro-life activists at the bill signing event. Some of the activists shared stories of abortions they regretted, others of adopting children who had survived abortion attempts.
"There are two types of people that have led me to speak up," said Heather Grall-Barwick, who said she had an abortion when she was 21. "The women who say that abortion does not cause mental distress, and the women in their 70s who had abortions and testified that just now they're able to speak about them and the regret that they have felt for over 40 years."
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. (Screenshot/Twitter/@GovRonDeSantis)
"I made a mistake that I cannot change, but I can let others learn from my mistake," she added.
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The legislation is slated to go into effect July 1.
DeSantis' move comes on the heels of a six-week abortion ban in Texas. Mississippi also enacted a 15-week abortion ban last year. Both the Mississippi law and the Texas law have been challenged before the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court has allowed the Texas ban to remain in effect while the case is being decided, a controversial decision in itself.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor railed against her colleagues' decision to allow the ban to remain in effect in December.
"The chilling effect has been near total, depriving pregnant women in Texas of virtually all opportunity to seek abortion care within their home State after their sixth week of pregnancy," she said of the law.
"The Court instead hides behind a wooden reading of Young, stitching out-of-context quotations into a cover for its failure to act decisively," she argued.
