Florida Abortions Drop 28%, Heartbeat Law Saves Thousands of Babies From Abortion
On April 13, 2023, Florida’s pro-life Gov. Ron Desantis signed SB 300, or the Heartbeat Protection Act, into law, a measure that protects children from abortion after six weeks gestation.
“We are proud to support life and family in the state of Florida,” the governor said. “I applaud the Legislature for passing the Heartbeat Protection Act that expands pro-life protections and provides additional resources for young mothers and families.”
SB 300 took effect May 1, 2024, after a protracted legal battle over another abortion law.
HELP LIFENEWS SAVE BABIES FROM ABORTION! Please help LifeNews.com with a donation!
What’s been the impact? Overwhelming—a 28% drop!
According to the Florida Agency for Healthcare Administration, there were 60,755 abortions in 2024, down from 84,052 in 2023.
“The number of non-Florida residents who got abortions in Florida last year fell 51% to 3,754, the data show,” Jesse Scheckner of Florida Politics reported. “That was the first decline in five years.”
Alabama and Georgia also have strong pro-laws. Significantly, “The number of Florida residents who had abortions and live in counties that border Alabama fell 44% in 2024,” Siena Duncan reported. “The number of residents who had abortions and live in counties next to Georgia declined 19%.”
State Sen. Alexis Calatayud “said before the floor vote that she hoped a six-week ban would encourage women to seek out adoption or family-planning aid instead of abortion,” Duncan reported. “‘I believe it will go a long way to help change hearts and minds influenced by a decade of anti-life culture that has demoted and devalued the important role of family.’”
But SB 300 was imperiled by 2024’s Amendment 4. Then Florida Senator, now Secretary of State Mario Rubio, wrote
Amendment 4 would allow abortion on demand, for virtually any reason, right up until the moment of birth. It would gut Florida’s parental consent law, remove safety standards that protect women, and open the door to mandatory taxpayer-funded abortion.
Gov. DeSantis played a pivotal role in defeating Amendment 4 which garnered 57%, three percentage points short of the number needed to add an amendment to the state Constitution.
Lynda Bell, president and spokesperson of Florida Right to Life and co-founder of Do No Harm Florida, described the vote as “a stunning victory for life.”
Amendment 4 was defeated! Despite the monstrous amount of money, the pro-abortion lobby raised and spent, the good people of Florida saw through their lies. After raising and spending an unprecedented 100 million dollars, the deceptive and radical pro-abortion Amendment 4 lost.
The pro-abortion lobby out spent the pro-life organizations more than 2-1 and still, in spite of the barrage of false claims about Florida’s Heartbeat Bill, they were defeated. We were grossly outspent, worked countless hours, drove across the state of Florida speaking out against this vile amendment and our grassroots team was second to none.
Bell added
Floridians dodged a bullet and won’t be forced to support taxpayer-funded abortion on demand; our little girls will remain safe from predators who want to take them for an abortion without parental consent and our clinic safety regulations will remain in place. If they come back for round two, we will fight them again.
LifeNews.com Note: Dave Andrusko is the editor of National Right to Life News and an author and editor of several books on abortion topics. This post originally appeared in at National Right to Life News Today —- an online column on pro-life issues.
The post Florida Abortions Drop 28%, Heartbeat Law Saves Thousands of Babies From Abortion appeared first on LifeNews.com.