The Florida state Senate has passed legislation which would ban most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, sending the measure to Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is expected to approve it.
The Florida House passed the bill last month, according to Reuters.
If approved, the measure will go into effect later this year on July 1.
Florida presently allows abortions up to 24 weeks into a pregnancy, according to the Associated Press. This means that a 15-week limit would represent a major shift, marking a win for the pro-life movement.
The bill includes exceptions if the abortion is deemed necessary to save the woman's life, to prevent significant injury to the pregnant woman, or if the unborn child has a fatal abnormality.
It does not provide exemptions for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest.
"It's not OK to force someone who’s been sexually assaulted and impregnated to carry that pregnancy to term if they don’t want too, it’s just not," Democratic state Sen. Lauren Book said on the Senate floor, according to the AP. "And if a woman or a girl needs more than 15 weeks to decide, we should be able to give that to her."
Reuters reported that Republican state Sen. Kelli Stargel has said that a "child should be killed because of the circumstances in which it was conceived."
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