Florida lawmakers have reconvened in Tallahassee to commence the 2024 legislative session, addressing various hot-button topics including a bill aimed at further restricting abortion access in the state and a proposal expected to impose limitations on free speech. Comments from state Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando.
Within hours before the start of Florida’s legislative session, newly filed bills are set to test the limits on hot-button topics such as abortion and free speech. Florida’s new 15-week abortion ban has yet to be be implemented due to litigation, but Republican state Representative David Borrero of Sweetwater has filed H-B 1519, which prohibits any person or entity from purposely performing or attempting to perform an abortion. Democratic State Rep. Anna Eskamani of Orlando took to social media to express her outrage, calling the move “cruel for the sake of being cruel”
“It is a total abortion ban that eliminates what were already narrow exceptions for rape or incest and also goes further into criminalizing individuals or entities that provide medication abortion by mail. “
The news comes as a state constitutional amendment that would protect abortion access in Florida received enough signatures of support to appear on ballots in the November election, however a challenge by the state’s attorney general could still block it, claiming the language is misleading.
Another newly filed measure, S-B 1780 by Republican Senator Jason Brodeur, would make it easier for an individual to sue another person for defamation. Eskamani thinks the measure is an attempt to create a penalty for an opinion one doesn’t like, which she believes is a slippery slope that could lead to criminalization.
“As long as you’re not directly threa-tening me, there really is not a path forward that I can pursue and I’m OK with that because I should not be punishing people for expressing a viewpoint I don’t like, I don’t have to agree with it.”
For a successful defamation case, one has to prove “actual malice.” If a defendant is found liable for defamation, the defendant could be fined at least 35-thousand dollars. The bill also removes bedrock journalistic privileges, particularly the right to keep sources anonymous. Statements from anonymous sources would be considered “presumptively false,” making journalists reporting on discrimination vulnerable to lawsuits. Tuesday is the final day for lawmakers to file a bill and the legislative session wraps up in early March.
