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Tie Vote Kills Ultrasound Abortion Bill
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Published: May 1, 2008
TALLAHASSEE - The Florida Senate has rejected an effort to require women to have an ultrasound and potentially view the image of their fetus before having an abortion.
The vote Wednesday was 20-20 in a chamber thick with tension and emotion. Unless a senator calls for reconsideration of the bill by Friday's conclusion of the annual legislative session, the tie vote means the controversial issue is dead for this year. The measure had already passed in the House.
Florida law requires an ultrasound procedure before abortions occurring in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy; the failed bill would have required it in the first trimester as well. More than 90 percent of abortions in Florida occur in the first trimester.
Under the bill, the woman would have had the right to decline viewing the images but would have had to fill out a form indicating that preference.
The issue was framed as proper medical practice by the bill's sponsor, Sen. Dan Webster, R-Winter Garden, but critics called it a thinly veiled obstacle to a woman's right to an abortion.
"The purpose of this bill really is to try and persuade pregnant women not to have abortions," said Sen. Steven Gellar, D-Cooper City.
Sen. Alex Diaz de la Portilla, R-Miami, did not refute that assertion. "I am pro-life," he said. "I make no excuses about it. ... I believe in protecting the unborn. If this bill will eliminate just one abortion in this state, it will make me proud."
The abortion bill was a signature issue for Webster, a conservative stalwart and former House speaker who is ending a 28-year legislative career amid much fanfare in Tallahassee.
Republicans outnumber Democrats 26-14 in the upper chamber, but seven GOP senators voted against the bill. One Democrat voted "yes."
The seven Republicans were all among those who also strayed from party leadership on the issue of keeping Terri Schiavo alive artificially in 2005. The St. Petersburg woman, considered in a permanent vegetative state by the courts, eventually died after a drawn-out effort to keep her alive against the wishes of her husband, including failed legislation to force-feed her.
Republican Dennis Jones of Seminole repeated his support for privacy rights in the abortion debate, just as he and his like-minded GOP colleagues did in the Schiavo case.
"My lord, you look at this bill, and where did that right to privacy go?" Jones said. "It takes everything away."
Sen. Jim King, the influential former president of the upper chamber, also objected to government intrusion.
"We have before us an opportunity to speak out for the women of this state who have been granted, constitutionally, the right to have an abortion," said King, R-Jacksonville. "Make no bones about it, what we're asking women to do is an impediment to that right. Because we're hopeful that by making them take the sonogram, by making them sign a sheet, by making them hear or see, that they are somehow going to be somewhat less inclined to have the abortion. Personally, I don't think that's our right."
Sen. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, urged a "no" vote "to ensure that the state ... and its Legislature isn't mean-spirited, isn't hurtful, isn't cruel."
Webster, the subject of tributes in both chambers this week, called his bill an extension of the state's informed consent law on abortion. He said ultrasounds would help doctors and women make informed medical decisions.
"Good medical practice dictates screening," he said.
A close vote had been expected. Some senators had expressed dismay that such a hot-button issue was being pursued in an election year.
Along with Jones and King, Republican senators voting against the bill were Mike Bennett of Bradenton, Lisa Carlton of Osprey, Paula Dockery of Lakeland, Evelyn Lynn of Ormond Beach and Burt Saunders of Naples. One of their GOP allies in the Schiavo matter, JD Alexander, voted for the abortion bill. Another, Nancy Alexander of Crystal River, is no longer in the Senate.
Sen. Gary Siplin, D-Orlando, supported the bill. Otherwise, the vote was along party lines, with Democrats opposed and Republicans in favor.
Passage could have put Gov. Charlie Crist on the hot seat. The governor, mentioned as a potential vice presidential candidate, did not say whether he would have signed or vetoed the bill had it passed.
It was the first time the first-trimester ultrasound requirement reached the Senate floor. Similar legislation passed in the House last year and did so handily this year. Florida would have joined Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi as the only states that require an ultrasound prior to any abortion.
Reporter Jerome R. Stockfisch can be reached at (850) 222-8382 or jstockfisch@tampatrib.com.
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Reader Comments
Posted by ( td_6 ) on May 1, 2008 at 10:39 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
All you "pro-choice" people reading this, make sure you tell your mother on mother's day that you're glad she didn't abort you.
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Posted by ( Prayer ) on May 1, 2008 at 3:14 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
What a shame. Praying at an abortion mill last Saturday morning, I watched as a lovely-well dressed-70-something-Italian? - pray-er, was enlisted to do sidewalk counseling because there was no one else to do it. "Young man," she called to a tall black teenager who was about to re-enter the mill, "may I talk to you." From my place about 30 feet away I see her talking to him - mostly oneway - for about 4 minutes. He stands quietly, eyes fixed on her, nodding slightly as she spoke. She occasionally touched his arm. When it the talking was done, she hugged him. Gaves him pamphlets, a rosary. He went into the mill. "What did you say?" I ask her. I told him his girlfirend needs a sonogram. She must have a sonogram. I told him not to have an abortion until she gets a sonogram. I told him that when she looks at the sonogram, she will want to keep the baby. You know why? Because when she looks at the baby inside her -- she will see him. And he is so beautiful she will want that baby. A few minutes later, the couple came out. She said she didn't have good feelings about going in. She is going to keep the baby. Both give the "sidewalk mama" a hug. They are very happy. What a shame for Florida.
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Posted by ( rickclewis ) on May 1, 2008 at 11:43 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
God loves people, even the little ones.
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Posted by ( shaftjudy ) on May 2, 2008 at 5:53 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
I can never quite understand why some individuals feel like they must force their value system on others. If that energy was used to go volunteer at a homeless shelter or a cancer hospital, they could actually help those who are already here! Please stop telling others what to do or not do with their own bodies. Why do some feel that they have this "devine right" to dictate how life is to be lived? Most of the pro-choice people also vote against social programs...so you want to force a woman to have unwanted offspring and then deny them healthcare and basic needs? Irrational.
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Posted by ( shaftjudy ) on May 2, 2008 at 5:54 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Revision: I meant "pro-life" in the latter portion of my statement.
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