TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — For hours Wednesday, lawmakers in the state Senate debated the controversial 15-week abortion ban bill. Thirteen amendments were proposed, and each one that came to a vote failed.
The measure comes as Republicans around the country move to limit access to abortion after the U.S. Supreme Court signaled it would uphold a Mississippi law prohibiting the procedure after 15 weeks and potentially overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision.
Language in the bill currently carves out exemptions for mothers who get two doctors to agree there is a legitimate necessity for an abortion to save her life, or stop irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function, except for a psychological condition.
One of these amendments pushed for psychological conditions to be included. That amendment was knocked down.
Another amendment made provisions that child support could be ordered for an unborn child beginning at 15 weeks of pregnancy. That failed, too.
There was another amendment proposed that would have provided exemptions for women who became pregnant as a result of rape, incest, or human trafficking. That didn't pass either. Sen. Lauren Book, a Democrat, who proposed the amendment, shared her own personal story.
"I was drugged, I was put in a room, and I was raped by multiple men,” Book said. “Thankfully, I didn't become pregnant as a result of that assault. I was simply trying to survive, but many young girls aren't so lucky."
And from the other side of the aisle, Kelli Stargel shared a story of her own.
"When I got pregnant at 17 and I went to planned parenthood, they said I would never be anything,” Stargel said. “So we can all stand here and cry on the floor with our stories. And, not trying to be dramatic, but it's a business. But…it's not a business, these are babies and it's not a choice, it's a child.”
She added that providing the exemptions could bring about false claims of rape, saying "if one of the only opportunities to have an abortion is if the woman was raped, I fear for the men who are going to be accused of a rape so that the woman can have an abortion because that's her only way out.”
Some of the other amendments on the table included provisions for expanding Medicaid, allowing child support to be ordered at 15 weeks of pregnancy, and taking steps to help mothers book appointments with the required second physician needed to sign off on life-saving exemptions.
The bill will have a third reading before senators put it to a vote. That's expected to happen Thursday.
Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has previously signaled his support for the proposal.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.