On that first day to the cheers of a Republican supermajority, the Governor of Florida delivered his second State of the State Address.
“Florida is number one and working together we will continue to be the number one state in the country,” DeSantis said.
The next speaker in the House of Representatives will be from Miami Dade, State Rep. Danny Perez said ‘we have tax relief this session that we are expecting under the $2 billion budget , that’s the most we’ve had tax relief in history.
“We are proud to be pro-family and pro-life,” said the governor. Minutes before the speech, a bill was introduced to restrict abortion from 6 weeks gestation instead of 15, but this time with exceptions for rape or incest,” DeSantis said.
Democratic Senator Lauren Book said, “As a sexual assault survivor, I can tell you that these exceptions are unnecessary.” He noted that it takes a victim to report a sexual assault maybe before they are ready to report it.
Susan Valdés, another Democratic representative, assures us that “a lot of times, women don’t know that they are pregnant at 6 weeks. It often happens that the woman does not know that she is pregnant for 2 or 3 months.
For most Republicans, it’s about being pro-life.
Danny Perez, a Republican, says that “many of us in the Republican Party believe that life begins at conception. Many disagree with this, but we want to protect life starting at this time.”
Vicky López, newly elected to represent the Miami Dade waterfront district, will face a tough vote in her first session.
“Sometimes you don’t know you’re 6 weeks pregnant, I don’t know what to do with that,” López says. “Starting with the fact that I represent a very large constituency that has Democratic Republicans and a majority that does not belong to any party. What shall I govern for all my people?
The law requires that after 6 weeks, in case of sexual assault, the victim has proof such as a police report or a restraining order and the administration of the abortion pill must be done with an in-person medical consultation.