| House Bill 1143 - The Ban on Taxpayer Funded Abortions and the Ultra Sound Before Abortion Bill |
BACKGROUND:
On April 30th, the Florida Legislature passed HB 1143, a Healthcare Bill which contained several great pro-life provisions. This bill was hotly debated in both the House and Senate Chambers in the final week of the Session. It passed the House 76 to 44 and the Senate 23 to 16. (See how your legislators voted by clicking on the blue links).
This bill is very important for the primary reason that it actually does something very good and very powerful! This bill is THE most significant piece of pro-life legislation ever passed in Florida’s history. But it does not become law unless and until the Governor signs it. According to Florida family Action President John Stemberger, "Apart from the reversal of Roe v Wade this is the single greatest legal or policy measure the state of Florida can take to significantly reduce abortions statewide."
 The ACLU and Planned Parenthood are aggressively opposing this bill and have pulled out all the stops with the abortion industry and are lobbying hard to ask Gov. Crist to veto it. In just a couple of days, over 1,000 calls were placed into the Gov’s office by our opponents asking for this good bill to be vetoed. The polling shows taxpayer funding of abortion is extremely unpopular with the people. A December 23, 2009 Quinnipiac poll found that 72 percent of Americans oppose taxpayer funding of abortions.
The governor has previously stated he is pro-life. Now he has the opportunity to exercise his pro-life principles and sign this good bill into law. However, he has expressed publicly that he has “very serious concerns” about the bill.
Pray, pray, pray. Pray that the Governor will be a man of his word take action now that is truly pro-life by signing and not vetoing this bill.
Please contact the Governor right away to make sure he knows how widespread the support for this bill is across the state.
Here are the important provisions in HB 1143:
- Prohibits federal and state taxpayer funding of abortion. The bill does not allow health insurance policies that receive state or federal funds to provide coverage for abortions.
- A woman seeking an abortion will undergo an ultrasound, a normal medical procedure for pregnant women to determine gestational age of the fetus , before the abortion and have the information explained to her unless she opts out of seeing the ultrasound image. The bill provides women with all of the available information through technology that will enable her to make an informed choice regarding an abortion decision.
- The bill also declares that the public policy of Florida is that a federal, state, or local government may not compel a person to purchase health insurance or health services.
| Copy and paste the letter below to send to Gov. Charlie Crist by email.
To: Governor Charlie Crist
charlie.crist@myflorida.com
Subject: H.B. 1143
Dear Governor Crist,
I am writing you today to ask for your support of House Bill 1143. The language of this bill will make sure my tax dollars will not be used to fund abortions in our state and will serve to inform and encourage mothers to choose life.
Thank you for your service as governor.
Sincerely,
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Dear Friend,
Since April 28th, when I first wrote that HB1143 could possibly pass both House and Senate and be sent to the Governor's desk for singing, the bill has come a long way. The bill has become so controversial that although we were informed that it was going to the Governor weeks ago, it was later decided by house leadership to hold the bill until all other bills had been sent. The consequence of all that strategy is that HB1143 has just now reached the Governor's office this week. He has said repeatedly that he will not take the allotted 15 days to review this bill.
This single bill is the best piece of pro-life legislation Florida has had for 38 years. It is imperative that we all act together, as these next few days are critical. Again, the unborn of Florida need your help. Presently, you and I are their only voice. Please help!
HB1143 provides pregnant mothers the opportunity to view their unborn child before committing to an abortion and killing their baby. HB1143 also protects taxpayer dollars from being used to pay for elective abortions.
Would you accept the challenge to do three things, without delay? One, would you just pray and thank our Heavenly Father for this great progress and ask that this bill become law. Second, please prepare a short e-mail in your own words and send it to Governor Crist. Third, please forward this e-mail from me to your own e-mail list as this will greatly expand the number of e-mails that Governor Crist receives.
To set up your e-mail, simply click this link: Charlie.Crist@myflorida.com
Remember, please forward this e-mail to your entire e-mail list no matter where they are from, even out of state or out of country. Ask them to join us in this 10 day campaign to Governor Crist. The number of e-mails that favor HB1143 will make a big difference.
Thank you sincerely,
Charles Van Zant
State Representative, District 21
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