DeSantis Vetoes Funding For Birth Control

Miami FL

09 June, 2022

6:07 PM

Description

A Miami Times Staff Report, the Miami Times Jun 7, 2022 Funding for contraception for low-income women has been vetoed yet again by Gov. Ron DeSantis, on the heels of the state's new ban on abortions after 15 weeks of gestation without exceptions for rape or incest. The legislation was pushed by Republican Senate President Wilton Simpson to provide $2 million in the budget for women to access long-acting reversible contraception (LARC). Examples include injections, intrauterine contraceptive devices, or an intrauterine contraceptive device that releases progesterone hormone into the womb. LARCs don't need to be taken every day and, depending on the type, can be effective for anywhere between two months and 10 years. But LARC is expensive, making it difficult for women who are uninsured or who are not covered by Medicaid to access it. Florida is one of 12 states that has not expanded access to Medicaid for low-income, uninsured adults. Simpson, who identifies as a pro-life, called LARC a "healthy part" of a pro-life agenda and said all women should be able to access it, regardless of income. "I think when you consider we are pro-life, how many lives that may be saved by LARC, and remember it's the people that cannot afford it is what this money's for. And about half of our population may not (be able to) afford these devices, and so I think that is certainly a tool that should be in the toolbox," Simpson said in the spring. It is the second time Simpson has included funding for LARC in the budget and It is the second time DeSantis vetoed it. DeSantis first vetoed LARC funding from the current fiscal year 2021-2022 state budget drafted during the 2021 legislative session, when the Florida Senate killed efforts to prevent women from having abortions due to fetal anomalies. Simpson, who was adopted from the foster care system at age 6, repeatedly stressed during the 2022 session that access to birth control increases opportunities for women and that it should be accessible to all women, not just those who are insured or covered by Medicaid. "I use the word opportunity a lot. If you give those young women an opportunity not to get pregnant, then they have an opportunity to go to college or start a career. Then they are 23-, 24-, 25-years-old and less likely to fall into poverty at that point," Simpson told reporters in January at the start of the 2022 regular legislative session. Meanwhile, with a month until Florida's 15-week ban on abortion takes effect, women's health centers across the state have filed a legal challenge to the new state law. The challenge, filed in Leon County Circuit Court, centers on the argument that the law violates a privacy clause in Florida's Constitution that includes the right to terminate a pregnancy. The health centers, all of which are abortion providers, are seeking an injunction to keep the new bill (HB 5) from going into effect July 1. Load comments The Miami Times is the largest Black-owned newspaper in the south serving Miami's Black community since 1923. The award-winning weekly is frequently recognized as the best Black newspaper in the country by the National Newspaper Publishers Association.