The Republican-controlled Florida legislature plans to consider a pro-life bill similar to Texas’ heartbeat legislation after “killing” the initiative twice before, according to members of the state legislature.
“There is no question” the Florida legislature will take up the heartbeat bill, Florida Senate President Wilton Simpson (R) told WFLA NBC. “It’s something we’re already working on.”
Pro-life protesters stand near the gate of the Texas state capitol at a protest outside the Texas state capitol. (Sergio Flores/Getty Images).
Florida House Speaker Chris Sprowls (R), however, has not committed to the plan, issuing a statement Thursday that only suggested “killing an innocent human being with a beating heart is wrong.”
“The Florida House will continue the fight,” he simply said.
NEW: Florida Senate President Wilton Simpson tells me “there is no question” the Florida legislature will consider an abortion heartbeat bill like Texas’ in this upcoming session.
“It’s something we’re already working on.”
More tonight on @WFLA at 4/5/6https://t.co/qBaRRHRCUm
— Evan Donovan (@EvanDonovan) September 2, 2021
Sprowls’ and Simpson’s comments are significant in light of the legislature’s past two actions of killing heartbeat bills. Republicans have controlled the Florida legislature and governorship for 22 years since 1999.
In 2019 Rep. Mike Hill (R) and Sen. Dennis Baxley (R) filed heartbeat measures that were defeated due to what Hill deemed as “criticism from fellow Republicans.”
A second time the bill was put forth in 2019, it was defeated because the Republican controlled House and Senate committee would not consider the bill.
U.S. congressional candidate and Florida State Rep. Anthony Sabatini (R) told Breitbart News the biggest opponents to a heartbeat bill are the Republican “leaders” in the House and Senate who “will give lip service to the bill but secretly work against it.”
“Every single year, Senate president Wilson Simpson and speaker Chris Sprowls have been killing the heartbeat bill,” said the Republican firebrand.
“For three years now I’ve been co-sponsoring the heartbeat bill and pushing for it to pass in Florida,” Sabatini explained. “The Establishment has killed the Bill each year. This week I entered the language from the Texas Heartbeat bill into Bill drafting—we MUST pass this bill in Florida this year. It’s time to stand up for the unborn.”
For YEARS we conservatives in the Florida Legislature have been trying to pass the Heartbeat Bill👇
Yet, so-called Republican “leaders” in the legislature have KILLED the Bill every time
This year, the @GOP MUST stand up for the Unborn! #ProLifehttps://t.co/ZdMvX3Rwsb
— Rep. Anthony Sabatini (@AnthonySabatini) September 2, 2021
Baxley, who is looking forward to another opportunity to protect human life, told Breitbart News that he is “very intrigued by the success that Texas has had with the heartbeat bill” and is “looking at it very closely for consideration in Florida’s upcoming Legislative Session.”
The Republicans’ next opportunity to pass legislation to protect the unborn will come when the legislature is gaveled into session on January 11. The bill could be passed through the legislature in as little as three weeks.
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø
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