The Florida Senate gave final approval to a bill banning abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy on Thursday, bringing the state one step closer to adopting a gestational limit that is presently being reviewed by the US Supreme Court.
The legislation was adopted on a party-line vote by the state's House of Representatives, which also has a Republican majority.
On a 23-15 vote in the Senate, the bill was passed and forwarded to Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican, who is anticipated to sign it into law.
The bill's passage would drastically decrease women's access to late-term abortions in the Southeast, as many of them travel hundreds of miles to obtain an abortion in Florida due to tougher abortion laws in neighboring states.
The state presently allows abortions up to 24 weeks after conception without a mandated waiting period, allowing a woman to end her pregnancy on the same day she visits a facility.
Only in circumstances when the mother is at risk of death or "irreversible bodily impairment," or if the fetus has a fatal condition, does Florida's law, which takes effect on July 1, provide exceptions to the 15-week ban.
Democrats who voted in favor of the amendment urged their colleagues to focus on the emotional needs of pregnant sexual assault victims. "We're better than this," Victor Torres, a state senator, remarked.
Senator Kelli Stargel, the bill's sponsor, justified the bill's removal of a rape exception, saying she disagreed with the notion that a "child should be destroyed because of the circumstances in which it was created."
Republican lawmakers throughout the country have introduced bills that replicate Mississippi's 15-week abortion ban, which is now being considered by the US Supreme Court after lower courts ruled it unconstitutional.
Some states have also attempted to enact their own versions of a Texas law that prohibits abortion beyond six weeks and allows individuals to sue people who help women obtain abortions after that time.
On Thursday, Idaho's state Senate passed a Texas-style six-week abortion ban, sending it to the state House for consideration.
The Supreme Court suggested during oral arguments in December that it was willing to uphold Mississippi's 15-week abortion restriction.
A verdict in Mississippi's favor would go against the landmark Roe v. Wade decision of 1973, which established the right to terminate a pregnancy before the fetus is viable, which is usually around 24 weeks.
The Supreme Court is anticipated to rule this spring.
