After Democrats shut down the body yesterday and hours of heated debate (during which young children were advised to leave the chamber) the Florida House has approved controversial language in a health care bill concerning abortion. During the debate, one member even inappropriately brought up the specter of the Holocaust.
The new measure would require all woman seeking abortions to pay for an ultrasound, and then require doctors to explain video of the ultrasound. It now heads to newly independent Governor Charlie Crist's desk, but many Democrats hope he vetoes it.
"This is governmental intrusion in the most personal decision. Stand down if you don't have ovaries," said Rep. Janet Long, a Democrat.
Meanwhile, a Republican representative went of into hyperbole land and compared the medical choices women make concerning their own bodies to the Holocaust.
a href="http://www.ocala.com/article/20100430/ARTICLES/100439966/1402/NEWS?p=2&tc=pg">From Ocala.com:
[Republican] House Speaker Larry Cretul stepped in when Rep. Alan Hays, a Republican from Umatilla, likened abortion to the Holocaust.
"Everyone is aghast and embarrassed" about the Holocaust in which at least 5 million Jews were killed, Hays said. "What are we going to say as a society about the killing of more than 50 million," he said before Cretul cut him short.
The bill past 76-44 among party lines, but Democrats hope that the newly independent Charlie Crist vetoes the bill.
Crist's stance on abortion issues have always been murky, though he generally calls himself pro-life though stops short of wanting to repeal Roe v. Wade. He's said that he is more interested in changing hearts than changing laws.
The new law though is directed at changing hearts, with the hope that women decide to stop the procedure after seeing images of the fetus forming inside of them. Though there's little evidence it actually works.
A similar law in Oklahoma was enacted. From the Oklahoman:
Women became emotional and some cried after being shown fetal ultrasound images at a Tulsa abortion clinic Wednesday, a day after Oklahoma enacted what has been called the nation's most restrictive abortion law. None of the women, however, decided against terminating their pregnancies, said Linda Meek, the executive director of Reproductive Services in Tulsa.
