Go to Content Go to Navigation Go to Navigation Go to Site Search Homepage

Senators Marco Rubio and Rick Scott Turn Their Back on Floridians, Vote Against Women’s Health Protection Act

Contact: Damien Filer / [email protected]

For Immediate Release: Feb. 28, 2022


By establishing a statutory right to provide and receive abortions, WHPA would render state-based abortion restrictions like the 15-week abortion ban currently advancing in the Florida Legislature unlawful

WEST PALM BEACH, FL — Today, despite the fact that 80% of Americans support safe, legal abortion, Florida Sens. Marco Rubio and Rick Scott voted against the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA), legislation that would protect abortion rights in Florida and across the country. WHPA would establish a statutory right to provide and receive abortion services, prohibiting states from implementing out-of-touch and unconstitutional abortion bans and restrictions, such as the 15-week abortion ban currently advancing in the Florida Legislature.

Statement from Stephanie Fraim, President and CEO of the Florida Alliance of Planned Parenthood Affiliates:

“Everyone deserves access to safe, legal abortion free of political interference and unnecessary barriers. Unfortunately, Sens. Rubio and Scott have once again turned their backs on the health and rights of Floridians by opposing the Women’s Health Protection Act. Access to safe, legal abortion is supported by a majority of Floridians. Given the ongoing threats to abortion access in Florida and across the country, it’s unconscionable that they would put politics ahead of the needs of their constituents. Florida voters will not forget.” 

Earlier this month, members of the Florida House of Representatives approved an abortion ban in the middle of the night, voting against the will of Floridians and the advice of medical experts. The ban will eliminate Floridians’ access to safe, legal abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy, with no exceptions for rape or incest. Shortly before the vote, abortion rights advocates were removed from the gallery and detained by Capitol police. This escalation happened just weeks after Republican legislators ejected students testifying against the abortion ban from a committee hearing. The bill is now in the Florida Senate for final consideration this week.

Last year, in a historic vote, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Women’s Health Protection Act. Nearly one in four women will have an abortion in their lifetime. While passing WHPA would not grant all people equitable access to abortion and other essential health care overnight, it is an essential step to obtaining reproductive freedom.

###

The Florida Alliance of Planned Parenthood Affiliates is the nonpartisan advocacy and political organization representing Florida’s two Planned Parenthood affiliates. The Alliance engages in educational and electoral activity, including legislative advocacy, voter education, and grassroots organizing to promote the Planned Parenthood mission.

This page is controlled and operated by Florida Alliance of Planned Parenthood Affiliates, Inc..

Planned Parenthood cares about your data privacy. We and our third-party vendors use cookies and other tools to collect, store, monitor, and analyze information about your interaction with our site to improve performance, analyze your use of our sites and assist in our marketing efforts. You may opt out of the use of these cookies and other tools at any time by visiting Cookie Settings. By clicking “Allow All Cookies” you consent to our collection and use of such data, and our Terms of Use. For more information, see our Privacy Notice.

Cookie Settings

Planned Parenthood cares about your data privacy. We and our third-party vendors, use cookies, pixels, and other tracking technologies to collect, store, monitor, and process certain information about you when you access and use our services, read our emails, or otherwise engage with us. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences, or your device. We use that information to make the site work, analyze performance and traffic on our website, to provide a more personalized web experience, and assist in our marketing efforts. We also share information with our social media, advertising, and analytics partners. You can change your default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our Necessary Cookies as they are deployed to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information, please see our Privacy Notice.

Marketing

On

We use online advertising to promote our mission and help constituents find our services. Marketing pixels help us measure the success of our campaigns.

Performance

On

We use qualitative data, including session replay, to learn about your user experience and improve our products and services.

Analytics

On

We use web analytics to help us understand user engagement with our website, trends, and overall reach of our products.