A Florida state senator is looking to ban the state’s legislative bodies from voting on bills concerning abortion unless at least half of those voting in the chamber are women, Huffington Post reported.
State Sen. Lauren Book wants to prevent the male-dominated legislature from casting their votes on anti-abortion bills, so she’s filed a bill that calls for a constitutional amendment.
Just a few months ago, a number of states throughout the country passed restrictive abortion bills.
Nine states in total passed new laws which would only allow abortions early in pregnancy. Known as “heartbeat laws”, these only allowed for pregnancies six weeks and under to be terminated, the time in which lawmakers claim a fetal heartbeat can be detected.
In most cases, women aren’t even aware they’re pregnant yet at six weeks.
There were a few states that stood out dramatically from the rest for their more radical approaches to abortion.
Alabama made headlines after it passed the country’s most restrictive bill yet, amounting to a near-total abortion ban throughout the entire state.
There were no amendments made for pregnancies as a result of rape or incest, and the bill suggested that any doctor found guilty of performing an abortion could face life in prison.
These laws were largely passed by men who made up the majority of their state’s legislature.
As seen in the photo above, every vote for the Alabama abortion ban came from a man.
In Florida, men hold a supermajority of the legislature in both chambers. They make up 70 percent of the House (84 of 120 total members), and also in the chamber (18 of 30 total senators).
Such a huge disparities is what has compelled Florida State Senator Book to file SB60.
This proposed bill would allow the people of Florida to vote on a constitutional amendment preventing the state legislature from voting on abortion pans unless half of those in the chamber are female.
“No vote about us without us,” she told the Tallahassee Democrat .
Sen. Book said she doesn’t believe bills regarding women’s reproductive rights should be largely left up to “older white men”.
“If we’re not being represented in the legislative body, I don’t think that older white men should be deciding what and how reproductive health care is looked at and decisions that are life-altering made,” she told Huffington Post .
Book, who is a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, said there’s no more “cruel and unusual punishment than requiring a survivor of rape or incest to carry a baby to term if they don’t choose that path.”
Florida has spent the last year pursuing anti-abortion measures, though no bills were voted on.
State Rep. Hill filed a “heartbeat bill” back in January, and Sen. Dennis Baxley attempted the same bill in February, but both ultimately went no further. Hill has said he plans on filing the bill again in the 2020 session.
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Florida’s state constitution has protections for abortion, and is also a place where southerners whose own states have more restrictive laws come seeking safe and legal abortions, as well as reproductive health care services.
Book said that women will always seek out abortion, even if states continue to make restrictive laws.
Therefore, it’s crucial that the state maintain its own legislation to continue to be a safe option for women in need.
“We need to make sure that it’s healthy, we need to make sure that it’s safe,” Book said. “We need to make sure that there’s access.”
