Abortion Bill Stalls In Senate

March 6, 2012

A measure requiring women to wait 24 hours before receiving an abortion stalled in the Florida Senate on Monday, virtually ending the possibility of its passage before lawmakers adjourn later this week.

Without debate, a procedural vote to bring the always emotionally charged issue to the floor by pulling the bill out of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee failed on a 23-16 vote, less than the two-thirds needed in the 40-member chamber. The failure makes the issue unavailable for further debate.

Minutes after the vote, the Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, said the issue was settled and would not return.

“Given the mood — the Senate chamber — they felt like with all the pressing issues …that this might take a little bit too much time, though it’s something that I would happen to support, as I showed by my vote today. There are some folks who are in the pro-choice caucus within my Republican caucus who didn’t want to vote for this,” Haridopolos told reporters.

“I think that (procedural) vote expressed where people are at,” Haridopolos added.

“I think it was a pretty definitive vote,” said Senate Rules Committee Chairman John Thrasher, R-St. Augustine.

Last week, the Florida House passed its version of the bill (HB 277), which would make women wait 24 hours after seeing a physician before an abortion could be performed. Patients also would have to be informed that a fetus feels pain at 20 weeks, an assertion that has been prompted debate in the scientific community.

Further, the bill would require doctors who perform the procedure to take yearly ethics course as part of their continuing education.

Over the past few years, Florida lawmakers have passed a series of bills seeking to make it more difficult to get an abortion, though many of their efforts have been challenged in court.

Following lengthy, at times emotional debate, the House last week voted 78-33, largely along party lines, to approve the bill, which also would require new abortion clinics to be owned by doctors and prohibit an abortion if the physician has determined the fetus has reached “viability.”

By The News Service of Florida

Comments

7 Responses to “Abortion Bill Stalls In Senate”

  1. 429SCJ on March 8th, 2012 8:08 am

    Only an atheist would perform an abortion, outside emergency conditions. Only a fool would know the word of God, and continue to do so. The Lord is clear about child sacrifice, Leviticus 18:21 .

  2. No Excuses on March 7th, 2012 8:04 pm

    Abortion is not a form of birth control, but that is how it is used. The RIGHT TO CHOOSE comes BEFORE a woman gets pregnant, not after. If you prevent the pregnancy in the first place by exercising some restraint and self-control (I did not say abstinence – that’s your choice too), then an unplanned pregancy is not likely to result. Abortion is a form of convenience employed by many women who got pregant due to poor planning.
    I also believe it is murder, but that doesn’t lessen the validity of my previous statements.

  3. Kathy on March 7th, 2012 10:00 am

    Republicans call Presidient Obama a SOCIALIST, trying to control everyone’s life by big government but it is the socialist republicans who are reality doing the controlling with socialist measures. I donot beleive in abortions it is murder but it is legal and is decision made between you and your God not you and the republican socialist.

  4. Kathy on March 7th, 2012 9:56 am

    You got to love it , Repubs call President Obama a SOCIALIST but it is the republicans trying to regulate every aspect of your life. interesting isn’t it. I don’t support abortion it is a murder, but it is between you and your God and not the republican party SOCIALISTS and you.

  5. ita a baby... on March 7th, 2012 7:53 am

    Abortion should only be legal if the baby was conceived by rape or if the baby is very deformed. But……

    A BABY HAS A BEATING HEART 18 DAYS AFTER CONCEPTION AND STOPPING A BEATING HEART IF YOUR NOT GOD IS MURDER!!!!!!!!

  6. Bruce Wayne on March 6th, 2012 9:01 pm

    Women should be allowed to abort whenever they want. If they’ve made the decision, they haven’t came to it lightly.

  7. huh on March 6th, 2012 2:01 am

    Its a dumb bill to start with, just pandering to the Republican voters it doesnt do anything about abortion. It cant, considering the supreme court has already ruled on that issue. So its a waste of time

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News