Expectant grandfather Gov. Rick Scott, Florida’s self-proclaimed jobs governor, shored up his conservative base Saturday with a ceremonial bill signing of four anti-abortion measures that are already law and went into effect nearly a month ago.

Scott, whose daughter Allison Guimard is five months pregnant with what will be his first grandchild, highlighted a controversial law requiring women to have ultrasounds and opt out of hearing the procedure’s details before getting an abortion. Scott’s predecessor Charlie Crist vetoed a similar bill last year.

“These bills are historic,” Scott told a crowd that included leaders from the Florida Baptist Convention, the Florida Catholic Conference and the Florida Family Policy Council. “It’s the right thing to be doing.”

On the campaign trail and since taking office, Scott has focused his attention on bringing jobs to the state where unemployment remains in the double digits and above the national average. Florida’s unemployment rate has dropped 1.4 percent since the former health care executive took office in January.

But on Saturday at the governor’s mansion, Scott flourished his social conservative side, making it clear that the intent of the measures is to discourage women from having abortions.

“I hope this helps make sure this doesn’t happen in the future,” he said.
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Gov. Rick Scott plans to showcase new restrictions on abortion approved this spring by the Legislature, huddling Saturday at the Governor’s Mansion with representatives of the Florida Catholic Conference, Florida Baptist Convention and Florida Family Policy Council.

Scott’s already signed the measures into law. But Saturday’s event is aimed at touting what those opposed to abortion rights say was a milestone year.

“I think it’s a great idea,” said John Stemberger, president of the Family Policy Council, who plans to attend Saturday’s ceremonial bill signings. “Over the past 15 years, we’ve taken small steps, passing different pieces of legislation. But to have five major reforms pass as we did this year, I’d say that’s pretty big.”

The legislation divided lawmakers, with most Democrats opposing the measures. Among the most disputed was, legislation requiring a woman seeking an abortion to undergo ultrasound and be given a chance to view the results.

The sweep of abortion legislation prompted Rep. Scott Randolph, D-Orlando, to quip at one point during session that since ruling Republicans were so opposed to government regulation for business, his wife should “incorporate her uterus” to be left alone.

Randolph was admonished by House Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, for the remark, that later drew nationwide attention. 

 During the session, parental notice requirements were toughened for minors seeking abortions, while another measure barred insurance companies from covering abortions under the new federal health care overhaul. Changes also were approved that allow dollars from Choose Life license tags to be distributed statewide to Choose Life, Inc., which counsels against abortion.

A proposed constitutional amendment for the 2012 ballot bans public tax dollars from going to abortions — mirroring an already existing federal ban. But the measure also would exempt abortion from Florida’s strong constitutional privacy provision — a standard that has scuttled previous legislative attempts at abortion restrictions.

 Stemberger said he wasn’t sure if Scott would use Saturday’s event to call for more action by next year’s Legislature. Among the measures that failed to advance this year were those similar to a law approved by Nebraska in 2010 which restricted abortions after 20 weeks because opponents maintain a fetus can feel pain at that point.

After being scolded by two Republicans, the Florida Senate sent to Gov. Rick Scott a second abortion bill this morning that would require women to have an ultrasound before they get an abortion.

Sen. Evelyn Lynn harshly rebuked her colleagues for wasting time with emotional issues and failing to do enough to create jobs and boost the economy.

“I didn’t come up here to come and tell you what you must do with your bodies,” Lynn, R-Ormond Beach, said. “I don’t want to have to continually talk about these issues on this floor when I have people pleading with me to help me please find money to keep my lights on…I will vote for every one of those bills. That’s not why I came up here. And I will vote no not only on this bill but every other bill we have on abortion. It is the wrong thing for us to be discussing and taking endless amounts of time on.”

Sen. Nancy Detert, a Venice Republican, said she resented having to vote on the issue.

“I personally resent writing legislation that acts like I’m too stupid to confer with my own doctor on what I should do. This is not what we were sent up here to do. I have no intention of telling you my faith, my personal problems, and I frankly don’t want to hear yours either,” Detert said.

The ultrasound bill (HB 1127) is one of four measures making it harder for women to get abortions lawmakers have passed during the legislative session making it more difficult for women to get abortions. Last year, Gov. Charlie Crist vetoed a measure similar to the ultrasound bill the Senate approved by a 24-15 vote, with three other Republicans joining Lynn in opposition. Gov. Rick Scott has said he would have signed the measure into law.
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The Florida Senate approved a measure that would make it harder for young women to get a judge to sign off on an abortion without her parents or guardians’ knowledge.

The Senate approved the measure (HB 1247) with a 26-12 vote with just one Republican, Sen. Evelyn Lynn of Ormond Beach, voting against it. The measure now goes to Gov. Rick Scott, who is likely to sign it.

Democrats argued that the many young women seeking the judicial waivers are afraid to tell their parents because they have been raped or abused by a family member and that the current parental notification law requiring a minor to go to a judge anywhere in the appellate district in which she lives is working. Last year, about judges issued about 300 orders allowing the procedure.

Sen. Gwen Margolis, a former Senate president, said she was around before the historic Roe v. Wade decision guaranteeing a woman’s right to an abortion. Margolis spoke of a young friend who bled to death after trying to give herself an abortion because she was too scared to tell her parents.

“That’s what happens with a lot of these young women. They’re afraid to tell their families…This is the real world. In the olden days, we had lots of deaths because of this kind of action,” said Margolis, D-Miami.

But Sen. Alan Hays, the bill sponsor, said that abortion counselors are taking children across the state to judges who would be more likely to grant the waiver.

“I find it totally and completely repulsive that we would allow an adult to take one of these 13 or 14-year-old young ladies and drive her from Crestview to Fernandina Beach to get an abortion,” Hays, R-Umatilla, argued.

Stay tuned for the vote on a second abortion bill requiring women to have ultrasounds before they get abortions. The Senate is now debating the measure, similar to one vetoed by Gov. Charlie Crist last year.

Florida lawmakers are poised to make the state’s parental notification of abortion laws stricter, making it more difficult for a minor to get a judges’ approval for the procedure.

By a 20-19 vote today, the Florida Senate rejected an amendment that would have kept the current law allowing minors to get a waiver from a judge anywhere in the appellate circuit in which she lives. The bill (SB 1770, HB 1247) instead would limit girls seeking the waiver to the circuit court.

That’s problematic for minors who live in rural communities or small counties whose family members are likely neighbors of or on close terms with courthouse workers or observers, argued Democrats and some Republicans, putting her confidentiality at risk. Many of the young women seeking the judicial permission for the abortions are victims of rape or incest, they said.

“I’m sorry that some people in here don’t understand that there are families where if a young woman goes to them she could be beaten or even killed because of…incest or rape,” said Senate Democratic Leader Nan Rich of Weston. “We should not be doing anything to place further barriers in front of these young women…There is no need to change this.”

But Sen. Alan Hays, who sponsored the bill, said that young women have plenty of opportunity to see a judge in their own community and should not be allowed to judge-shop.

“I find it preposterous that a young lady…might be put in a vehicle and transported all the way from Escambia County to Duval County just so she can get an abortion without her parents knowing about it,” Hays, R-Umatilla, said.

Abortion rights advocates contend that the measure, already approved by the House and expected to be passed by the Senate tomorrow, would make Florida’s parental notification laws the strictest in the nation.

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The Senate passed two amended House abortion bills, sending back slightly watered-down versions of a proposed constitutional amendment and a bill barring some private insurers companies from providing abortion coverage.

Yesterday, the House approved a half-dozen anti-abortion measures after nearly five hours of debate.

The Senate spent less than 20 minutes discussing the two measures Thursday morning.

The first (HB 97) would bar insurance policies purchased in whole or in part from the new health care exchanges from offering abortion coverage. The Senate added additional exceptions to the measure that already includes exceptions for rape, incest or the life of the mother to include the health of the mother.

The second (HJR 1179) would ask voters whether the state constitution should bar public money from being used to pay for abortions. That measure, too, was amended to include exceptions for the mother’s health.

“I resent the fact that now wer’e further eroding a woman’s right to do what she wants to do with her body,” objected Sen. Arthenia Joyner, D-Tampa, who voted against the measure.

But Sen. Anitere Flores, the bill’s sponsor, said that curbing abortions was one of the reasons she ran for office.

“This is an issue that for some of us was the reason we came to Tallahassee, to help…the lives of the unborn,” Flores, R-Miami, said.

Voting mostly along party lines, the Florida House approved five measures that would make it more difficult for women to get abortions.

The chamber spent nearly five hours debating the measures that will require women to have an ultrasound before getting an abortion, make it more difficult for minor girls to get a judicial bypass for the procedure without parents’ consent, impose strict regulations on abortion clinics and ban some private insurers from providing abortion coverage.

“For many people this is a moral issue, this is a life and death issue,” said Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, former executive director of the Florida Christian Coalition.

Republicans admitted the bills are aimed at reducing the number of abortions in Florida.

“What are scared of? Are we scared of women discovering that there actually is a heartbeat? Are we so terrified that a woman may look at this and discover that she really does believe in life and allow her to make a choice to preserve life rather than living the rest of her life knowing she terminated life?” Rep. James Grant, R-Tampa, said about HB 1127 that would require ultrasounds before abortions.

“Stop putting ideological blinders on. Stop believing that the sky is green. There are so many different scenarios.
Why are we so afraid that a woman can’t make the between her, herself, her doctor, her god and her family? That’s what’s offensive,” said Rep. Scott Randolph, D-Orlando.

The Florida House will vote on six anti-abortion measures today, prompting the chamber’s Democratic women to hold a press conference in opposition to the bills.

The GOP-dominated legislature is considering 18 anti-abortion measures this session, part of a trend by legislatures throughout the country.

Rep. Geraldine Thompson, D-Orlando, said she is the mother of three grown children by her own choice.

“It was not a choice that was imposed upon me by the government,” Thompson said. “After several minutes of heavy breathing by the man, the woman has nine months to carry.”

Freshman Rep. Janet Cruz, D-Tampa, said she gave birth to her daughter when she was just 16 years old and a junior in high school.

“It was a decision between myself, my family and my God,” Cruz said. “That should remain a decision between a woman and her God, not a woman and her government.”

The bills include proposals to require women to have an ultrasound and listen to a description of the fetus before having the procedure (HB 1127), similar to one vetoed by Gov. Charlie Crist last year; that would make it harder for teens to get a judge to allow them to have an abortion without their parents’ approval (HB 1247); that would bar private insurance companies from providing abortion coverage (HB 97); and that would impose restrictions on abortion providers critics say would shut down nearly every clinic in Florida.

Florida state Rep. Scott Randolph’s suggestion that his wife should “incorporate her uterus” to keep government out of it prompted his appearance last night on MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow show.

Last week, House GOP leaders chastised the Orlando Democrat for using the word “uterus” during debate on the House floor.

Randolph’s argument: Republicans believe in less regulation when it comes to businesses, but are trying to impose greater regulations on women with the 18 anti-abortion measures now floating between the two chambers. Randolph suggested his wife should “incorporate her uterus” to keep government out of it.

Meanwhile, the Florida ACLU launched a tongue-in-cheek website, “incorporatemyuterus.com,” urging women to “sign up” to protect abortion rights.

“Businesses get special treatment these days. If lawmakers and other politicians see your uterus and your body as a business, maybe they’ll work to get government out of the uterus regulation business as they do for every other company,” the website advises.

The Senate Health Regulation Committee approved two anti-abortion measures this afternoon, including a proposed constitutional amendment banning public financing of abortions even in the case of rape or incest.

The other measure (SB 1414) would prohibit private health insurers from covering abortions.

Both measures were approved by a 9-3 vote, with the two Democrats on the committee voting against them.

Rick Scott’s campaign is crying foul over our story this morning that reported his primary rival, Bill McCollum, opposes abortions even in cases of rape and incest. Scott does not.

We got that detail from a controversial voters guide prepared by a triumvirate of Christian groups. Presumably, McCollum’s campaign filled out their own questionnaire. We’ll update this blog when we get their response.

Meanwhile, Scott’s campaign is calling it a “last-minute flip-flop” comparing it to McCollum’s reversal on embryonic stem cell research, which he no longer supports. (Here’s our opus on that and other life issues in this race.)

Scott’s staff has sent out quotes from the Orlando Sentinel political blog this summer in which McCollum said he does not support taxpayer funding of abortions except “in circumstances where the mother’s life or health is at risk or in cases of rape or incest.”

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UPDATE: The church has pulled the voter guides after Scott’s campaign complained.

That’s the note in the voter’s guide the Florida Family Policy Council and other Christian groups are disseminating at the 10,000-member El Rey Jesus church in Miami today.

The guide runs through candidates positions in seven races. But the only “note” is included in the GOP governor’s race between Rick Scott and Bill McCollum. The note happens to be a talking point for McCollum, who has been endorsed by the family policy group’s director, John Stemberger.

Note: Mr. Scott was the CEO of Columbia/HCA Healthcare hospitals while they performed elective abortions.

We should note that a tiny fraction of elective abortions happen in hospitals. And we should also note that several GOP operatives have said this is a low blow againt Scott.. Remember Florida GOP icon Jeb Bush is a board member of a hospital where abortions happen, too. (Even McCollum has stopped repeating it in his stump speeches.)

One of the positions not included in voters guide: illegal immigration.

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Mary Susan Pine, who regularly protests outside a West Palm Beach clinic where abortions are performed, is the target of a U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit that seeks to bar her from any driveway leading to the clinic and could result in a $10,000 fine.

Pine, 58, is the first Florida person targeted under the 16-year-old federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act.

A National Abortion Federation lawyer applauds the suit as part of the crackdown Attorney General Eric Holder promised after the 2009 slaying of a Kansas abortion practitioner.

Read about it here.

Limp and blue, Sidney Miller miraculously gasped for air and spontaneously cried when she was born four months early in 1990.

The baby, however, wasn’t expected to survive much longer. Told of a lifetime of pain, blindness and mental retardation that awaited their severely premature daughter, Mark and Karla Miller asked doctors to take no heroic measures to save her life.

But as quickly as the parents were given that choice, the Houston hospital took it away.

Today Sidney is approaching her 20th birthday and her story has made its way from Texas to Florida, where gubernat­orial candidate Rick Scott is citing it as one of his right-to-life credentials in a tough Republican primary.

Only immigration rivals abortion and right-to-life issues as the most inflammatory debate topic of the race, in which Scott, a Naples businessman, and his principal rival, Attorney General Bill McCollum, have been on television, often with provocative accusations about the other’s anti-abortion positions.

McCollum says Scott “profited from abortions” as the former chief executive officer of Columbia/HCA. Scott snaps back that McCollum worked for a lobbying firm that earned more than $100,000 from abortion providers.

Abortion issues have a long history in Florida GOP primaries. But some believe the Republican candidates are capitalizing on a renewed interest in the issue, indicated by more than 36,000 phone calls, e-mails and letters that poured into Gov. Charlie Crist’s office urging him to support a controversial bill written by anti-abortion politicians.

“It’s very exciting to watch,” said Florida Right to Life President Carrie Eisnaugle, whose group is supporting both Republicans. “It shows both candidates are concerned about life issues and that Gov. Crist’s veto has really reenergized the grass-roots right-to-life movement.”

Story here.

Gov. Charlie Crist has vetoed a controversial health care bill backed by powerful GOP legislators that would have required women seeking abortions to have ultrasounds and listen to detailed explanations of the fetus.

Crist, who abandoned his long ties with the Republican Party and is running as an independent for U.S. Senate, said in his veto message the bill places an “inappropriate burden” on women seeking abortions and violates the right to privacy.

“Individuals hold strong personal views on the issue of life, as I do,” Crist wrote in the message. “However, personal views should not result in laws that unwisely expand the role of government and coerce people to obtain medical tests or procedures that are not medically necessary. In this case, such action would violate a woman’s right to privacy.”

Conservatives and anti-abortion groups stepped up pressure on Crist to sign the measure (HB 1143) into law, and House Republican leaders waited until this week to send him the bill.

The veto will likely garner support from some Democrats and pro-choice Republican women, two voting blocs Crist is wooing to shore up his independent candidacy.

A bill requiring a woman to pay for an ultrasound before getting an abortion is now headed to Gov. Charlie Crist, who can sign it, veto it or allow it to become law without his signature.

The expectation among politics-watchers has been that Republican-turned-independent Crist will veto HB 1143 in keeping with his drift from conservative-sounding GOP Senate primary hopeful to Democrat-courting independent candidate.

If Crist vetoes the bill, however, he can expect cries of hypocrisy from the right and left.

Republican Senate candidate Marco Rubio’s campaign is already highlighting the old “Charlie Crist on Pro-Life/Family” page that’s been yanked from his indie campaign website. And Democratic Senate candidate Kendrick Meek has posted the above clip of Crist touting his “pro-life, pro-gun, pro-family” credentials as a Republican in February.

HOLLYWOOD — Gov. Charlie Crist appears likely to veto a bill requiring women to see ultrasounds before they can get abortions, state Sen. Eleanor Sobel, D-Hollywood, said today.

Sobel said she had a brief conversation with Crist as he visited the Seminole reservation for a ceremonial signing of a $1 billion gaming compact.

“I think it looks positive for a veto, but it’s not over ’til he vetoes it,” Sobel said. “I actually went up and whispered in his ear….It means a lot to the women in this state.”

The ultrasound bill didn’t come up when Crist spoke briefly with reporters before leaving the event.

Few people understand nuance better than Gov. Charlie Crist, but after four years we’ve learned that “concern” from the governor about a piece of legislation can often quickly lead to a veto.

Here’s what he told The Palm Beach Post, the only media outlet to talk with Crist about the bill so far today.

“I just saw the House passed it a few minutes ago,” Crist said. “Obviously we haven’t had a chance to review it in our office. But it gives me concern. Sure.”

Asked what about the proposal concerns him, Crist said, “I need to study it.”

Crist was equally serene when asked about the budget. Crist was the target of some choice words from lawmakers when he proposed a $69.2 billion spending plan. The final budget from lawmakers: $70.4 billion.

Crist has been asked several times about a potential veto of the budget, but has steered those questions toward his traditional action on the budget, which has been to veto specific line items and not the entire document.

He did the same today.

“I think what I need to do is let Jerry (McDaniel, Crist’s budget director) and his team look through it very thoughtfully and thoroughly,” Crist said. “Once they’ve had that opportunity, then I go ahead and begin getting briefed by him and his team. I want to be very methodical about it, you know, what’s in there what maybe shouldn’t be in there and do the right thing.”

Crist said he planned head to Pensacola this weekend to monitor the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Crist said the spill “puts the kibosh” on any more talk of expanded oil drilling in the Gulf.

“How anybody could see that and not think that not only do you need to rethink it, but certainly put all the brakes on it,” Crist said. “That’s the only right thing to do.”

Florida lawmakers gave final approval to a contentious abortion bill that would require pregnant women to have an ultrasound before an abortion after nearly four hours of at time tearful, disturbing debate.

The measure passed by a 76-44 vote and is now headed to Gov. Charlie Crist.

Only a single Republican spoke against the measure, Rep. Ed Homan, R-Temple Terrace, a physician.

Speaking against the measure, Rep. Scott Randolph gave an emotional account of his and his wife’s experience with abortion after three ultrasounds found that the fetus would die.

“The ultrasound machine’s right next to that bed where my wife is laying looking at this fetus and she’s having to cry and ask and demand that that ultrasound machine be turned in the other direction because she can’t see it anymore,” said Randolph, D-Orlando, crying freely.

“And this bill would say no, we’re going to demand that one more time, when you go in to finally terminate that pregnancy because God and fate and nature have told you that not this time, you’re not going to have the child this time, that you see that ultrasound or that you be told what’s on that screen. You can demand that it be turned away but you’re still going to have to listen to the description of what’s there,” he went on.

Randolph hammered on the Democrat’s objections that forcing the ultrasounds contradicts Republicans’ belief in smaller government.

“Six years ago this legislature wanted government so small that it could fit down a tube into an individual woman’s throat named Terri Schiavo,” Randolph said. :And this year you’re wanting government so small that it can fit between a woman’s legs and into her uterus.”

UPDATE: The House passed the abortion ultrasound amendment after a three-hour debate with a 72-46 vote.

House Speaker Larry Cretul cut short some of the more heated debate on the controversial abortion bill passed by the Florida Senate yesterday that would require all women seeking an abortion to have an ultrasound.

Cretul stepped in when Rep. Alan Hays, R-Umatilla, likened abortion to the Holocaust.

“Everyone is aghast and embarrassed” about the Holocaust in which at least 5 million Jews were killed, Hays said.
“What are we going to say as a society about the killing of more than 50 million…,” he went on before Cretul cut him short.

“Members, I know this is a very sensitive issue and I really ask for your cooperation in keeping it within the bounds,” Cretul, R-Ocala, said.

Rep. Richard Steinberg spoke shortly after Hays.

“As a Jew in this House I am deeply disheartened” about the analogy, Steinberg, D-Miami Beach, said.

“Rep. Steinberg, we’re going to keep it within the bounds,” Cretul replied.

Earlier, Cretul gave Democrat Adam Fetterman equal treatment.

While others were surprised the abortion measure even came up, Fetterman said he was not.

“See there’s no bacon to bring back home. But you sure can bring the red meat.
This is a side of beef for some fundamentalist people. It is designed to coerce a woman to change her mind if not scare her away from the doctor’s office,” said Fetterman, D-Port St. Lucie.

Fetterman went on to say that some fundamentalists support the assassination of doctors is acceptable because they are such staunch abortion opponents.

Heck part of me is afraid to leave this chamber today without the protection of the sergeants…because of my beliefs,” Fetterman said.

“Rep. Fetterman, if you could temper your remarks just a little,” Cretul chastised.

The House is expected to vote on the measure (HB 1143) shortly.