State Rep. Anthony Sabatini said Wednesday he would introduce legislation that would duplicate Texas’ strict new anti-abortion law in Florida. It would ban most abortions.
Florida Senate President Wilton Simpson told WFLA-Ch. 8 that “there is no question” will consider an abortion heartbeat bill like Texas’ in this upcoming session. The Tampa Bay station reported Thursday that Simpson said “It’s something we’re already working on.”
Sabatini and other anti-abortion lawmakers have repeatedly tried and failed to do the same thing before. The measure keeps getting killed in the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature.
But there is a differences this year: The U.S. Supreme Court allowed the Texas law to go into effect. And the Supreme Court will take up abortion in its next term, with the possibility that it could significantly reduce abortion rights.
“It’s time to start saving the lives of innocent unborn children in Florida. For three years, I have been the co-sponsor of the “Heartbeat” Bill, fighting the radical left and the weak Republican establishment to get this bill past. The RINOs in Tallahassee have stopped progress every step of the way. It’s time to put them on the record and ensure a vote of the House immediately,” Sabatini said.
The Texas law banning most abortions in the state took effect Wednesday, with the Supreme Court silent on an emergency appeal to put the law on hold.
The law is the most far-reaching restriction on abortion rights in the United States since the high court’s landmark Roe v. Wade decision legalized abortion across the country in 1973.
It prohibits abortions once medical professionals can detect cardiac activity, usually around six weeks and before most women know they’re pregnant.
Sabatini had reason to jump on the issue quickly. He’s trying to get publicity for his campaign for Congress in Central Florida. He announced his plan to file the legislation on Twitter and in a news release from his congressional campaign.
Sabatini’s news release praised the “heroic decision made [Wednesday] night by the Supreme Court to uphold the pro life ‘Heartbeat’ Bill out of Texas,” and said his Florida version “mirrors Texas’ transformational bill.”
President Joe Biden said in a statement that “extreme Texas law blatantly violates the constitutional right established under Roe v. Wade and upheld as precedent for nearly half a century.”
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee issued a statement that said the ban on abortions at six weeks is “draconian.”
“This bill aims to terrorize those who provide abortions, allowing random individuals to sue providers, clinicians, and anyone else who assists a woman in accessing an abortion. “This assault on patient rights and healthcare providers reaches far beyond the borders of Texas. … [T]his cruel law acts as a blueprint for Republican legislatures across the country to intimidate physicians, ban abortions, and strip access to health care for women.”
Sabatini consistently champions causes popular with people who are part of former President Donald Trump’s MAGA movement.
Sabatini has previously pushed the idea of naming U.S. 27 the “President Donald J. Trump Highway.” He received attention last year as a frequent filer of lawsuits challenging mask orders as well of brief tweets such as “DEFUND @NPR,” “FIRE FAUCI,” “Know your rights,” and “Wake up Floridians!”
On Tuesday, the Lake County lawmaker announced an endorsement from U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., who’s one of the most Trump-aligned members of the Congress. Gosar achieved political notoriety when six of his siblings made an ad urging his re-election defeat. Investigators looking into the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol are reportedly interested in the phone records of several pro-Trump members of Congress, including Gosar, who participated in that day’s “Stop the Steal” rally.
Also on Tuesday, Sabatini was raising money in Boca Raton and Parkland for his congressional campaign. For now, he’s one of four Republicans seeking their party’s nomination in the Central Florida 7th District, currently represented by Democratic U.S. Rep. Stephanie Murphy.
But boundaries of congressional districts will be redrawn before next year’s elections to reflect population changes uncovered in the 2020 Census. So Sabatini might end up running for a different seat.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
