In the US state of Florida, abortions are to be banned from the sixth week of pregnancy. The Republican Party-dominated legislature in Tallahassee passed a law on Thursday evening (local time). Republican Governor Ron DeSantis signed it late in the evening. “We in the state of Florida are proud to support life and family,” he commented on the rule tightening.
It’s the second time in a year that Florida has reduced the legal abortion period. Last April, DeSantis signed legislation that reduced the pregnancy window from 24 to 15 weeks. The ultra-conservative 44-year-old can look back on the renewed reduction in the abortion deadline as a political success. He is said to have ambitions for a Republican presidential nomination next year. DeSantis is considered the strongest internal party competitor to ex-US President Donald Trump, who has already officially applied.
The US government in Washington sharply criticized the tightening of the law in Florida 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,” said White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre. 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 there.
New Florida law states that women can only have an abortion up to the sixth week of pregnancy unless the fetus is not viable, the pregnancy endangers the mother’s health, or is the result of rape or incest. But even with DeSantis’ signature, the tightening will not initially come into effect. First, the Florida Supreme Court must rule on an appeal against last year’s 15-week limit.
Abortion rights are one of the most controversial socio-political issues in the United States. Last June, the country’s Supreme Court overturned the nearly 50-year-old landmark “Roe v. Wade” ruling that enshrined a nationwide fundamental right to abortion. This gave states the right to massively restrict or ban abortions. Many conservative states have already done so.
