FL Senate panel approves 6-week abortion ban, with a lone GOP woman in tears voting no

Senators at a committee Monday voted to approve an abortion ban in Florida after six weeks of pregnancy, with exceptions for rape and incest. One GOP female member voted against the legislation.

That no vote was cast by Miami-Dade County Republican Alexis Calatayud.

Wiping away tears as she explained why she would be voting no, Calatayud said that she and her campaign team had knocked on tens of thousands of doors while running for her seat last fall. She said that she told those voters that she was “pro-life,” and that women “deserve better than abortion and better than a culture that seems to constantly cheapen their dignity and life.”

But she added that voters wanted to know how she would vote if the issue came back before legislators this session. She told them that she would support the state’s current 15-week ban on abortions, though she would fight for exceptions for rape and incest.

“My word means everything to me, and I stand by my commitments I made to the people who elected me,” she said. “Because I gave my word to my constituents, I am voting no today.”

Meanwhile, the committee vote record showed that Miami-Dade Republican Ileana Garcia did not record a vote at the Senate Health Policy Committee meeting.

The final vote in the committee was 7-4.

The controversial proposal advanced by the committee Monday evening does make exceptions for rape and incest, but the Republican-controlled committee voted against an amendment proposed by Senate Democratic Leader Lauren Book that would add victims of human trafficking to those exceptions.

The bill, SB 300, also prohibits the use of telehealth services for abortions, requiring that any abortion-inducing drugs be provided in person by a doctor. It also prohibits any person, educational institution and government entity from expending state funds to allow a person to travel to another state for an abortion.

Numerous doctors who came to testify at the Senate Health Policy Committee argued against the 6-week abortion ban.

The measure still needs to be considered in another Senate committee before pursuing a vote in the full Senate. The House version of the bill, HB 7, also has one more committee to get through to consider a vote in the full House chamber.