Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican presidential candidate in 2023, signed the Heartbeat Protection Act into law on Thursday evening, April 13, just hours after the bill passed the Florida legislature.
The new law gives unborn children full rights to life once a fetal heartbeat is detected, which can happen as early as six weeks of pregnancy. It also provides assistance to mothers throughout the state.
“Signed the Heartbeat Protection Act, which expands pro-life protections and devotes resources to help young mothers and families,” DeSantis wrote on Twitter Thursday, sharing a photo of himself at his governor’s desk where he is signing the law.
In the photo, DeSantis is surrounded by pro-life lawmakers and advocates.
Opponents of the law argue that by the time most women realize they’re pregnant, it will be too late for them to have an abortion.
Earlier in the day, the Florida legislature passed SB 300, the Heartbeat Protection Act, which establishes protections for unborn babies with a heartbeat beginning at six weeks of gestation.
The new law also includes a $25 million fund for pregnancy centers throughout the state. The funds are intended to assist women both during their pregnancy and after their child is born.
Following the passage of the heartbeat bill by the Florida legislature, the White House issued a statement condemning the “extreme and dangerous” legislation.
“Today, Florida’s Republican supermajority-controlled legislature sent an extreme and dangerous new abortion ban to Governor DeSantis’s desk for signature. The ban flies in the face of fundamental freedoms and is out of step with the views of the vast majority of the people of Florida and of all the United States,” White House press secretary Karine-Jean Pierre said in a statement.
“This ban would prevent four million Florida women of reproductive age from accessing abortion care after six weeks — before many women even know they’re pregnant. This ban would also impact the nearly 15 million women of reproductive age who live in abortion-banning states throughout the South, many of whom have previously relied on travel to Florida as an option to access care.”
The legislation allows exceptions to save the life of the woman or for cases of rape or incest until 15 weeks of pregnancy.
