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Loading...Florida Bill Could Make Abortion Punishable By Life In Prison
To most people, it seems inconceivable that a woman’s legal right to choose could be taken away by anything less than a Supreme Court reversal of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision (as we’ve seen during the health care debates, a woman’s actual ability to access an abortion can be curtailed in many creative ways), but this Florida bill is frightening in how close it would come to banning nearly all forms of abortion. This month, Florida State Rep. Charles Van Zant, a Baptist minister, filed a bill that would make nearly all forms of abortion a first-degree felony for the provider, punishable by up to life in prison.
“I just felt like we’re destroying a lot of Florida’s children, and we need to stop,” Van Zant said, “and I felt led by the Lord to do that.”
Florida, as many know, is an extremely conservative state. Florida twice tried to enact legislation that banned late-term abortions, in 1998 and 2000, and both times the state lost in federal court because the laws were seen as too broad. The state’s laws already restrict a young woman’s right to an abortion; a minor (or woman under the age of 18) may not obtain an abortion until at least 48 hours after parental permission is given.
This is problematic in a number of ways (young women may not be able to tell their parents about their pregnancy because of sexual assault or incest or may be afraid of the consequences if their parents discovered that they were sexually active), but Van Zant’s new bill would take this a hundred steps further. He said that he hopes if the bill is passed, that its constitutionality would be challenged so that the legality of abortion could once again be considered in court. The effects of this could be potentially devastating, since the current Supreme Court could be conservative enough to reverse the Roe decision.
“We wrote it because we expect it to be challenged in court,” Van Zant said of the bill. “The Roe v. Wade decision is unconstitutional — not this bill.”
The bill, interestingly, focuses on abortion providers rather than the women accessing the abortions. Doctors who perform abortions would face first degree felonies punishable by up to life in prison and civil fines. Women would also be required to receive more information on adoption. The bill criminalizes abortion even in the case of rape or incest, a dramatic move that will hopefully keep less conservative legislators from voting for it.
Ohio and Nebraska are also attempting to restrict abortion rights. Louisiana and Utah each successfully banned abortion in 1991. Federal courts declared both those laws unconstitutional. But let’s hope that this Florida bill doesn’t get far enough for a court to have to strike it down.
You can tell Rep. Van Zant what you think by emailing him here.
Read more: abortion, florida, reproductive justice, reproductive rights, roe v wade, womens rights
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486 comments
+ add your ownAbortion is murder, plain and simple!
I feel that a Woman should have a right to Abort! I was raised by a very smart Mother, when I was young she taught & raised me, that, a woman should have a Choice . Pro-Choice !!
Whats with the Bible thumpers dictating what another person wants to do. It's a decision for a woman to make over her own body, otherwise we are 1 step forward and 20 steps back. We do not want a woman to have to attempt this procedure in a back alley. We do not need to go back there.....
The answer to your question is yes. And to be clear, no human or any other creature or life form exists without destroying life.
A course in biology will make it quite clear the difference in an abortion and dumping a baby in a dumpster. So will a good read in a law book or two.
A heartbeat begins after 14 DAYS of conception. 14 DAYS!!! You want to tell me a woman has the right to destroy that heartbeat? What is the difference between a mother dumping an infant in the dumpster and an abortion? No difference. People who support abortion will find any excuse possible to excuse their conduct. Look at prisoners, lifers, people on death row - look up what they tell the cops: It wasn't my fault. He made me mad. It was him, it was her, etc etc etc. If a woman does NOT want to get pregnant, there are birth control - for a REASON!!!! If a girl gets pregnant from a rape, assault, or incest - Tell the police, go to a home. There are so many homes opened to teenage girls who are pregnant. There are also MANY parents who want to adopt a child. The govt should amend the rules for a couple adopting a child, and we would have many more adoption seen through. It is such a shame our country is so lazy and so irresponsible, women would excuse any reason just to kill a defenseless child. I wonder, would your mother have aborted you? After all, your nothing in the womb, a parasite, your not alive. It's not like you eat, breathe, move, listen to the noises outside of the womb, grow, develop, your just nothing.
An embryo is a potential. However, it is not a human, peoples emotions or desires notwithstanding. Until an embryo or a fetus can exist outside the womb, with or without medical assistance it is little more than a parasite.
There is no authority, medical, scientific, philosophical or religious that affirms or confirms when an embryo develops into a human being.
These religious right wingnuts who believe that because a woman has the god-given gift of creation she has no right to the god-given right to free will.
~;^}>
An embryo is a potential. However, it is not a human, peoples emotions or desires notwithstanding. Until an embryo or a fetus can exist outside the womb, with or without medical assistance it is little more than a parasite.
There is no authority, medical, scientific, philosophical or religious that affirms or confirms when an embryo develops into a human being.
These religious right wingnuts who believe that because a woman has the god-given gift of creation she has no right to the god-given right to free will.
~;^}>
Liza,
Please read my post on this thread from Mar 9, 2010 11:43 PM.
The scientific definition of life is based on birth, not conception, so while a potential life may be ended, this is not an issue of taking a life.
Should a victim of rape or incest be forced to have a child that serves as a constant reminder of her victimization? Even if put up for adoption, how do you think someone would feel to know that they were the product of a violent crime?
Should someone have to live with a debilitating and incurable condition that might even take their life at a young age, when that could have been avoided?
What about a mother who might die from complications of a pregnancy when having an abortion will allow her to continue living, possibly even able to conceive again at some later time?
What if someone simply isn't financially or emotionally ready to have a baby and chooses not to consider adoption?
The fact is, these are difficult choices and may seem harsh to you or any other person in this world, but your perception means absolutely nothing when it's someone else's choice, and you have no right to impose your beliefs and morals on someone else.
The key is choice, and that should be available for all free people.
As I said in that other post, you're not going to stop abortion, but the days of the dirty back-alley abortions must never return; abortion must be kept safe and legal.
Liza - You are mistaken if you believe that women who choose abortion are unaware that there is life involved. They know and they choose to abort or not. They choose just as everyone on this planet chooses to take life or makes choices that take life, every day. Not necessarily through abortion, but by literally every action they take throughout the day and their lives.
Whatever the political views or religious beliefs are...whatever the moral question or fear of consequence that a new life might bring...the fact is...it is a LIFE! We fight for rights to life...our own, the imprisoned and oppressed, the Earth's, animals...the rights of the unborn are as definite and valuable. There is NO justification for destroying a life in any way, shape or form. That women should have choice is certain, but what never seems to be said is that with choice comes responsibility and when another life is involved, the choice isn't just about one's own life and body. The responsibility is no longer just to oneself. It is also to another. We need to have the courage to acknowledge that.
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