Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book

A Florida Democratic senator has filed a bill that would prevent pregnant women in Florida from being criminally charged or prosecuted for getting an abortion, which is currently banned after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

The bill was filed shortly after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican presidential candidate who previously said he was “proud” to have signed into law a more restrictive six-week abortion limit in April, falsely claimed on TV that state law doesn’t currently allow for it.

“We have no criminal penalties, the penalties are for the physician. … That is for the providers, it’s not for the women,” DeSantis told NBC anchor Norah O’Donnell about Florida’s abortion law.

Senate Democratic leader Lauren Book of Broward County, daring Republicans to contradict the move, filed a bill Friday for consideration during the 2024 state legislative session, beginning Jan. 9, 2024, that would affirm DeSantis’ statement.

The bill filed (SB 34) would amend Florida law to specify that a “pregnant woman” seeking to terminate her pregnancy would not be subject to criminal penalties for getting an abortion.

Under current law, there is a third-degree felony penalty charge for “any person who willfully performs or actively participates in a termination of pregnancy” past 15 weeks of pregnancy.