BREAKING NEWS: Gov. DeSantis Signs Heartbeat Bill into Law 

New historic law will protect unborn children after six weeks of pregnancy 

(Tallahassee, FL) On Thursday evening, April 13th, 2023, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law SB 300, The Heartbeat Protection Act, after it passed the House.  The bill protects unborn children after 6 weeks of pregnancy when a heartbeat can be detected. These are the strongest protections for the unborn in Florida’s fifty-year history post-Roe.  

 

DeSantis signed the bill into law in his office surrounded by the Bill sponsors Sen. Erin Grall, R- Indian River, and Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulicka, R-Fort Myers, and other supporters of the bill.   

 

Florida Family Policy Council President John Stemberger was there in person with Governor DeSantis at the bill historic signing and made the following comments: 

 

Many of us have worked all of our lives for a moment like this when Roe vs. Wade is reversed, and we can work to pass laws that provide real protections for the unborn and services for women to give them a real choice.  As a state, we can learn to love children and not kill them.  We applaud Speaker Renner, President Passadomo, and the Governor for their leadership in getting to this historic moment.  Sen Grall and Rep Persons-Mulika also did amazing work to defend the unborn. In Florida, we are fighting to protect children, both born and unborn, and today’s bill is a huge step toward making Florida a safer place for the little ones.   

The bill greatly expands support for the Florida Pregnancy Care Network, from Five Million to Twenty-Five million to further the work of Florida’s pregnancy centers to provide needed resources for mothers in unexpectant pregnancies, including diapers, formula, baby clothes, pregnancy tests, job training, parenting classes, counseling and a variety of other goods and services.   

 

The legislation also prohibits the use of taxpayers’ dollars for transporting mothers out of state to receive abortions.  

Finally, the bill also prohibits the mailing of chemical abortion prescriptions and that a doctor must be present in person to prescribe such medications and to perform surgical abortions, cutting off the ability of clinics to use non-medical staff to conduct abortions or use telehealth to prescribe those abortion drugs.  

 

Of Interest, the bill does not have a specific effective date.  Instead, there is a trigger provision in which the bill becomes effective only upon one of several possible rulings by the Florida Supreme Court deciding that the state constitution has no abortion right and or the overturning of our state abortion case precedent, In Re: T.W., A Minor. 

 

The current pro-life bill prohibiting abortions after 15 weeks passed last year is now on appeal, and many legal commentators believe this case will overturn Florida’s long-standing judge-made abortion case.   

 

This bill passed in the Senate a few weeks ago and was heard on the House Floor the entire day today. Both times, eruptions of shouting and protest occurred, and they had to clear the gallery and shut it down for the day due to the protesters.  Today in the House, protestors began throwing trash onto the House floor, so they cleared the entire gallery of everyone, including peaceful observers and our staff. Democrats also tried to block and obstruct the bill by trying to add around 50 frivolous amendments. 

 

For interviews or more information  

Contact: Noah Fay 

407-780-7844 

[email protected] 

 

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