Bill Will Go to Governor DeSantis

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Today, National Right to Life applauded the Florida Legislature for protecting unborn children with beating hearts from elective abortion.

In a vote of 70-40, the Florida House passed HB 7, The Heartbeat Protection Act. The bill will now go to Governor Ron DeSantis for his signature.

The law allows abortion throughout pregnancy to protect the life of the mother or in cases of reported rape, incest, medical emergency or when the child has a fatal condition, but it will protect unborn children from elective abortion after 6 weeks of pregnancy—a time at which the unborn child has a beating heart.

The vast majority of abortions are performed on healthy babies of healthy mothers who are conceived consensually, and half of these elective abortions take place after 6 weeks—after the baby has a beating heart.

“This law will save many babies from needless death,” said Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life. “We applaud the Florida legislature for passing this bill to protect innocent human life.”

Tobias continued, “We praise Florida Right to Life, National Right to Life’s Florida affiliate, for its commitment and hard work in seeing this legislation pass.”

The law also provides $25 million dollars for pregnancy resources and material support (diapers, formula, parenting classes, life skills, and counseling).

“This is a wonderful day for babies and their mothers in Florida,” said Lynda Bell, president of Florida Right to Life. “Pro-abortion groups lose the debate when they say we don’t care about women because this bill provides over $25 million in support for women and girls in an unexpected pregnancy. We Floridians value unborn children and their mothers.”

Bell continued, “This is a good day to be a Floridian. Florida Right to Life looks forward to assisting in any way we can.”

Founded in 1968, the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the federation of affiliates in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia and more than 3,000 local chapters, is the nation’s oldest and largest grassroots pro-life organization. Recognized as the flagship of the pro-life movement, National Right to Life works through legislation and education to protect innocent human life from abortion, infanticide, assisted suicide and euthanasia.