Anger and anguish over 15-week abortion ban

TALLAHASSEE — Abortion is a basic human right. Abortion is murder.

Abortion is bodily autonomy. Abortion shocks the conscience.

Those arguments and many more raged back and forth in the state Capitol this week as the Florida House fast-tracks passage of a law to ban abortions after 15 weeks — even in cases of sexual assault or incest. Its passage is considered a certainty, and that will make Florida the major abortion battleground in the country in the upcoming midterm elections.

Far beyond the Capitol bubble, this is the issue generating the most interest this session, and it will — or should — drive a lot of voters to the polls next fall, making it a huge issue in the 2022 elections. Anyone who tries to frame this purely as a matter of health is telling half the story and insulting the intelligence of voters. It’s about politics, and timing, with a 15-week statewide ban in Mississippi awaiting a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court.

“I believe that we have a unique opportunity,” said Rep. Erin Grall, R-Vero Beach, the sponsor of HB 5, “in the fact that the Supreme Court is considering 15 weeks right now, and this would allow Florida to save as many babies as possible, as soon as possible, after that decision is made.”

Democratic Rep. Anna Eskamani of Orlando pressed Grall on whether a 15-week ban is unconstitutional with Roe v. Wade still the law (and, as of Saturday, 49 years since the high court’s 1973 decision).

“The court just sometimes gets it wrong,” Grall replied.

The Florida Legislature sometimes gets it wrong, too.

Some people drove hundreds of miles and spoke in anguished tones as they pleaded for defeat of the bill. In yet another show of disrespect to their constituents, lawmakers limited testimony to 30 seconds each because there was so little time and so many people showed up — real people, not paid lobbyists.

“Fifteen weeks after I was sexually assaulted,” said Kimberly Cox of New Port Richey, her voice breaking, “I was in no way, shape or form able to make the decision that you would have been asking me to make. … I’m begging you to reconsider. My life matters. My heartbeat matters.”

Wednesday’s two-hour hearing was held in Webster Hall, named after Dan Webster, who was the first Republican House speaker in Florida in more than a century, from 1996 to 1998. A long-time member of Congress from Orlando and a staunch abortion opponent, Webster tried in his final session in 2008 to pass a bill that sought to reduce abortions by requiring a pregnant woman to view ultrasound images of her fetus.

Webster had senators’ deep respect, but back then, Republicans still thought for themselves. In a highly dramatic moment, the bill failed in the Senate on a 20-20 tie as seven Republicans joined 13 Democrats.

One of the Republican rebels, the late Jim King of Jacksonville, memorably said: “Unless you ovulate, or have ovulated, we have no business as males interfering with this decision.”

Fourteen years later, the Capitol is a very different place, but the same arguments can still be heard.

“Politicians are not medical experts,” said Rindala Alajaji of Orlando and Equality Florida, speaking for Florida’s LGBTQ community in opposing HB 5. “Our bodies should not be legislated upon.”

No one’s mind is likely to be changed by this debate, but many will keep fighting, as they should. Hillary Cassel of Fort Lauderdale cut through the din with a simple declarative statement.

“Everyone in this room loves someone who has had an abortion,” she said, repeating it for emphasis. “When you press your vote button today, ask yourself: Are you honoring that woman? Are you honoring her decision?”

When they pressed their vote buttons, all 12 Republicans present voted yes for a 15-week abortion ban, and all six Democrats present voted no, against it.

Democrats filed a much different bill, which cites the privacy provision in Florida’s Constitution as a guarantee of a person’s right to access reproductive health care and bars the government from denying a citizen’s right of privacy with respect to personal reproductive decisions. The Democratic version (HB 709) has not been heard and likely won’t.

Eskamani, one of the House’s best-prepared debaters, said the new law “punishes people for being poor.”

People with money will still be able to go to North Carolina after 15 weeks, she said, but not a homeless woman who may be a victim of rape and won’t realize she’s pregnant until after 15 weeks.

Without exceptions for cases such as the one she described, Eskamani said, “This is the beginning of a rapist’s bill of rights.”