Florida Senate Rejects Measure Requiring Ultrasounds Before Abortion At Any Stage

Florida's Republican-controlled Senate voted 20-20 to reject a House-approved bill (SB 2400) on Wednesday that would have required physicians to perform an ultrasound on all women seeking abortion, the Miami Herald reports. The House had approved a companion bill (HB 257) last month.

According to the Herald, the behind-the-scenes maneuvering that led to the tie vote pitted Senate Republican leader Dan Webster (R), who sponsored the bill, against former Senate President Jim King (R), who built a coalition of seven Republican moderates and 13 Democrats to defeat it. King said, "Unless you ovulate or have ovulated, we have no business as males interfering with your female decision on reproduction." He added, "A woman making a decision that she wants to abort, that decision should be honored." One Democrat and 19 Republicans voted for the bill (Caputo/Gilpatrick, Miami Herald, 5/1).

source: Medical News Today