In the waning days of the 2010 Legislative session, the GOP led Legislature is laying down its markers on social issues.
Yesterday the Senate 22-17 in favor of a new government mandate amendment that women seeking abortions must pay for ultrasounds and, in most cases, view live images of the fetus. They also adopted an amendment banning abortion coverage for individuals and businesses who buy insurance under insurance exchanges in President Obama's health care overhaul passed by Congress earlier this year.
Both amendments were filed shortly before the vote, and. has been mentioned in press coverage throughout the session, indicates how this brand of GOP Senators are cut from a more conservative cloth than their predecessors from just a couple of years ago.
As the Tampa Tribune reports, when the ultrasound bill was voted on in 2008, eight Republicans teamed with Democrats to kill the bill (it deadlocked at 20-20).
South Florida Democrat Dave Aronberg called the ultrasound bill "an assault on the poor", since the cost for the procedure varies from $200 to as much as $1,000. Eastern Hillsborough county Senator Ronda Storms was the only female senator (out of 9) to vote for the amendment, saying,
"I rise as a woman who has an X chromosome and all the necessary accoutrements that make me a woman, and I'm not offended," Storms said. "We're not little girls. We're not afraid of information."
This article appears in Apr 28 – May 4, 2010.