{"id":132445,"date":"2026-01-26T18:35:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T18:35:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/132445\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T18:35:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T18:35:13","slug":"tampa-rep-fentrice-driskell-sponsors-bill-to-revive-abortion-access","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/132445\/","title":{"rendered":"Tampa Rep. Fentrice Driskell sponsors bill to revive abortion access"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"FentriceHouse Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell, D-Tampa. Credit: Photo via State of Florida<\/p>\n

A pair of Florida Democrats have filed legislation that would in effect eliminate the state\u2019s restrictive six-week abortion ban and other laws limiting abortion access and guarantee access to reproductive health care.<\/p>\n

Called the Reproductive Freedom Act, the bills were filed on the 53rd anniversary of the landmark Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal in the United States. It was undone by the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women\u2019s Health Organization decision that returned abortion regulation to the states.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Reproductive Freedom Act would ensure all Floridians can access the full range of reproductive health care options, without the government looking over their shoulders in the exam room,\u201d House Democratic Leader and\u00a0HB 1151<\/a>\u00a0sponsor Fentrice Driskell said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t think of a better time to announce this than the anniversary of Roe v. Wade. It was a decision that protected our grandmothers, mothers, and daughters until extremist judges and politicians took it away.\u201d<\/p>\n

A 2024 attempt to enshrine abortion rights in the Florida Constitution was supported by 57% of voters but failed to meet the 60% mark needed to pass.<\/p>\n

Pro-abortion right legislators are quick to remind Republican leadership that while the 2024 amendment failed, it was supported by a majority of voters. Still, the proposals are unlikely to pass the Legislature at a time when the GOP supermajority seems intent of expanding restrictions on reproductive freedom \u2014 allowing would-be parents to\u00a0file wrongful death suits for embryos, for example,\u00a0and\u00a0requiring public school children to<\/a>\u00a0watch \u201cfetal development\u201d videos as part of the academic curriculum.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jacksonville Democrat Sen. Tracie Davis has filed identical legislation (SB 1308<\/a>) in the Senate.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve heard us say this a thousand times before. And we\u2019re going to keep saying it until we can change the law: All Floridians must have the freedom to make their own choices about their health care, in consultation with doctors who\u2019ve taken an oath to act in their patients\u2019 best interests,\u201d Davis said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt no time is a politician more qualified than individual patients and doctors trying to navigate unique, and sometimes life-threatening, health care decisions. We\u2019re already facing a shortage of OBGYNs in this state and if we don\u2019t pass the Reproductive Freedom Act, it\u2019s only going to get worse.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bills wouldn\u2019t alter or change any of the state\u2019s existing\u00a0abortion statutes.\u00a0Instead, they would modify the state\u2019s\u00a0general public health laws<\/a>,\u00a0inserting legislative intent language into statute to make clear that the principles of individual liberty, personal privacy, and equality that are protected in the state Constitution ensure access to reproductive care.<\/p>\n

The right to reproductive health care includes, but is not limited to:<\/p>\n

A fundamental right to make autonomous decisions about the individual\u2019s own reproductive health, including the right to use or refuse reproductive healthcare; and<\/p>\n

A fundamental right to choose whether to continue the pregnancy and give birth or to obtain an abortion and to make autonomous decisions about how to exercise this fundamental right.<\/p>\n

The bills would also amend public health statutes to make clear that \u201ca fertilized egg, embryo, or fetus does not have independent rights\u201d in Florida.<\/p>\n

The bills would amend statutes to ban the state, county, or local governments from denying or interfering with an individual\u2019s fundamental right to access reproductive health care. The bills also would ban any state or local law enforcement agencies or officials from harassing or discriminating against an individual for providing or obtaining reproductive health care or for assisting another person in doing so.<\/p>\n

A 2023\u00a0law that<\/a>\u00a0prevents the use of state funds to foster travel to another state for abortion care and another law that bans a health care surrogate or proxy\u00a0from consenting to an abortion<\/a>\u00a0on another person\u2019s behalf also would be eliminated by the bills.<\/p>\n

Boca Raton reproductive endocrinologist and fertility specialist Dr. Leah Roberts said that in many ways reproductive care is treated differently by lawmakers than other health care, with state legislatures more willing to intervene in its delivery.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, there seems to be this carve out. You know, nobody\u2019s gonna tell a cardiologist that they can\u2019t, you know, put a stent in someone, but it seems to be looked at very differently when it comes to OBGYN care,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s a fair thing to be happening. I mean, I went to undergrad for four years, med school for four years, four years of residency. I practiced for a year and then did three more years of fellowship. So, certainly, I have just as much training if not probably a year or two more, than any cardiologist in regards to my organ system, which just happens to be, you know, only in women,\u201d she said. \u201cBut it also affects men.\u201d<\/p>\n

ACLU of Florida Executive Director Bacardi Jackson said the bill would give every Floridian freedom over health care decisions.<\/p>\n

\u201cDecisions about whether and when to use birth control, whether to continue or end a pregnancy, and whether and when to grow a family are among the most personal decisions anyone will ever make. These choices shape our lives, our health, and our futures. Politicians are never more qualified than individuals, families, and their doctors to make these deeply personal decisions, and Florida\u2019s laws must reflect that truth.\u201d<\/p>\n

The focus of the five-page bills is access to reproductive care, but the legislation also would strike a 2023 statute<\/a>\u00a0that allows health care providers and payors to deny medical care based on conscience.<\/p>\n

Florida Phoenix<\/a> is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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