Press Release
NARAL Pro-Choice America Denounces Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for Signing Unconstitutional Ban on Abortion Into Law
For Immediate Release: Thursday, April 14, 2022
Contact: [email protected]
Washington, DC — Today, anti-choice Gov. Ron DeSantis (FL) signed an extreme and unconstitutional ban on abortion after 15 weeks. Florida becomes the third state to enact a 15-week ban on abortion since the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to consider Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization—a case about Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban that directly challenges Roe v. Wade.
NARAL Pro-Choice America President Mini Timmaraju released the following statement:
“Today, Florida became the third state—after Arizona and Kentucky—to enact a 15-week ban modeled after Mississippi’s unconstitutional 15-week ban currently being challenged at the U.S. Supreme Court. This is a shameless step towards what could be a terrifying new future for reproductive freedom in the country. Anti-choice politicians across the United States, emboldened by the Supreme Court’s anti-choice supermajority, are clamoring at the opportunity to enact abortion bans like Mississippi’s. No matter what kind of ban, let’s be clear: They are all meant to take away people’s freedom to make their own decisions about pregnancy and parenthood and impose one-size-fits-all restrictions.”
The fight for reproductive freedom faces a pivotal moment as the anti-choice supermajority on the Supreme Court prepares to hand down a decision later this year in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization—a case that directly challenges Roe. That’s why the anti-choice movement is working in overdrive to pass a barrage of bans and restrictions, including 15-week bans similar to Mississippi’s. Florida’s 15-week ban is set to take effect on July 1, soon after the Court is expected to issue its ruling in the Jackson Women’s Health case.
Even as Roe stands, state lawmakers across the country are working harder than ever to roll back abortion access and find new and increasingly cruel ways to ban and restrict abortion. Anti-choice lawmakers have already introduced over 500 restrictions on abortion this year. The wave of anti-choice legislation moving across the country also includes attacks on medication abortion care and copycat bans modeled after Texas’ vigilante-enforced ban on abortion at six weeks, which is before many people know they are pregnant.
If the Court upholds Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban, they will have ended Roe’s protections and undone the constitutional right to abortion as we know it. If that happens, 28 states—including Florida—are likely to take action to ban abortion. Of those, 13 states already have “trigger bans” in place, which would ban abortion automatically. These bans will disproportionately hurt those who already face barriers to accessing abortion care—including women; Black, Indigenous, and other people of color; those working to make ends meet; LGBTQ+ people; immigrants; young people; those living in rural communities; and people with disabilities.
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For over 50 years, NARAL Pro-Choice America has fought to protect and advance reproductive freedom at the federal and state levels—including access to abortion care, birth control, pregnancy and post-partum care, and paid family leave—for every body. NARAL is powered by its more than 2.5 million members from every state and congressional district in the country, representing the 8 in 10 Americans who support legal abortion.