House Democrats are holding a field hearing on abortion access in Florida on Tuesday, one day after the state Supreme Court ruled a six-week ban could go into effect next month.
The field hearing, which began at 10 a.m. in Broward County, is being attended by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), Maxwell Frost (D-FL), Darren Soto (D-FL), Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), Kathy Castor (D-FL), Dan Kildee (D-MI), Barbara Lee (D-CA), and Robin Kelly (D-IL). Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra is also in attendance.
Abortion is set to be among the top concerns for Democrats as they hope to retake the Republican-led House in November. Campaigning on access to the procedure helped the party blunt a red wave in the midterm elections in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.
Since then, several states have enacted near-total or total abortion bans, and national Democrats have worked to tie those decisions to vulnerable Republicans representing swing districts in red states such as Florida.
“Florida is now ground zero in the fight to protect a woman’s freedom to make her own reproductive healthcare decisions,” Jeffries said at the hearing. “And as House Democrats, we are here to make clear we stand with you to protect reproductive freedom.”
The hearing comes one day after the Florida Supreme Court upheld a 15-week abortion ban in the state, setting the stage for a 6-week abortion ban to go into effect on May 1. However, the state’s top court also ruled in a 4-3 decision on Monday that voters will get to decide on a ballot measure to protect the right to abortion until “viability,” or about 24 weeks, in November.
The decision is a win for Democrats and activists who began organizing the effort last May, when Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) signed the six-week ban into law. Florida is one of nine states actively weighing abortion rights amendments, while four others are looking to make last-ditch efforts to include an amendment on their 2024 ballots.
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The Biden campaign projected optimism on Monday evening that the abortion ruling would buoy its own efforts at the top of the ballot, while the decision could also have implications for Sen. Rick Scott’s (R-FL) reelection bid.
Kildee, who is retiring from Congress at the end of his term, plans to lean on his state’s success in enshrining abortion rights in the state constitution during Tuesday’s hearing, according to prepared remarks obtained by Punchbowl.