Reproductive Rights
Florida legislature tightens abortion laws
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis addresses supporters in Kissimmee. photo
© John Raoux/AP/dpa
Republican Ron DeSantis could run against Donald Trump in the 2024 election campaign. As governor of Florida, he is now expected to sign a highly controversial law.
In the US state of Florida, abortions are to be banned from the sixth week of pregnancy. The Republican-dominated legislature in Tallahassee passed a law to that effect yesterday evening (local time). Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to sign the law into law. So far, abortions have been banned in the state from the 15th week of pregnancy.
DeSantis is likely to book the tightening of abortion laws as a political success. The conservative 44-year-old is said to have ambitions for a presidential candidacy for the Republicans. He is considered the strongest internal party competitor of ex-US President Donald Trump, who has already officially applied.
The US government in Washington sharply criticized the procedure and described the planned abortion ban from the sixth week as “extreme and dangerous”. “The ban violates fundamental freedoms and is not consistent with the views of the vast majority of people in Florida and throughout the United States,” White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.
Before many women even knew about their pregnancy, a ban would already apply to them, prohibiting them from having an abortion. It would also affect all those women who, due to bans in other states, had to travel to Florida to have an abortion here.
Last year, the Supreme Court, with its conservative majority, overturned the country’s abortion law, which had been in force for almost 50 years. Since then, the states have been able to decide independently on the regulations on abortion.