Florida, North Carolina move forward with abortion waiting periods

The Florida Senate passed a bill today that would require women to wait 24 hours before having an abortion and make two trips to the abortion center. The measure passed 26-13, after the state’s House passed the bill Wednesday on a 77-41 vote.

Gov. Rick Scott is expected to sign the bill, according to the Tampa Bay Times. The measure includes exceptions in cases of rape, incest, domestic violence, or human trafficking if the woman provides documentation.

On Thursday, the North Carolina House of Representatives passed a bill extending the waiting period for abortion procedures in that state from 24 to 72 hours. The bill also requires abortionists to record the baby’s gestational age, his or her measurements, the method of abortion, and keep an ultrasound image if the abortion is carried out after the 18th week of pregnancy.

The bill, which passed by a margin of 74-45 in the House, is expected to pass the Senate as well before heading to Gov. Pat McCrory. He has not said whether he intends to sign it.

Missouri, South Dakota, and Utah already have 72-hour waiting periods in place. If the bills are signed in both Florida and North Carolina, a total of 28 states will mandate a waiting period.

In its 1982 ruling in Akron v. Akron Center for Reproductive Health, the U.S. Supreme Court said “an arbitrary and inflexible waiting period” is unconstitutional. But 10 years later, while upholding abortion rights in Planned Parenthood v. Casey (a 5-4 decision that, if it had gone the other way, would essentially have overturned Roe v. Wade), the Supreme Court reversed Akron, stating that “waiting periods help ensure that a woman’s decision to abort is a well-considered one.”

Since Casey, codifying waiting periods has been a favorite pro-life strategy. The pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute conservatively estimates a waiting period ultimately prevents at least 10 percent of abortion-minded women from going through with the procedure.