Florida Legislature Won’t Override Crist Veto of Pro-Life Bill

State   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Nov 4, 2010   |   1:52PM   |   Tallahassee, FL

The Florida legislature will not likely consider holding a vote this month to potentially override the veto from Governor Charlie Crist of a pro-life bill.

Crist vetoed a measure that would allow the state to opt out of the abortion funding under the ObamaCare bill and would allow women a chance to see an ultrasound of their unborn child prior to an abortion.

Abortion centers routinely perform ultrasounds before abortions and the bill would give women the opportunity to view it, as such centers don’t normally provide it — even though they include the cost in the price of the abortion.

Senate President-designate Mike Haridopolos and House Speaker-designate Dean Cannon both said Wednesday the ultrasound/opt-out bill would be included in the list of measures the legislature would try to override.

John Stemberger of the Florida Family Policy Council told Sunshine News he didn’t think it would come up for an override vote either “because a couple of the new GOP House member pickups are not pro-life.”

But Stemberger said he doesn’t think the bill is dead even though it can’t get the two-thirds needed to override.

He believes it will make a comeback during the next legislative session and with pro-life Governor-elect Rick Scott replacing Crist, the bill just needs a majority vote to become law.

“The more likely scenario would be that ‘ultrasound’ would be brought up again in the 2011 session, where it could now be easily passed and the new governor, Rick Scott, would sign the bill into law as he promised,” Stemberger told the web site.

Scott, a businessman, ran as a pro-life candidate and Florida Right to Life gave him an “A” grade and recommended him to voters.

“I am pro-life. I believe strongly in the sanctity of human life. I believe Roe v. Wade should be overturned, and as governor, would appoint judges who apply law and not impose their political agenda on the people, which was what was done in 1973 when Roe was wrongly decided,” he said on his web site.

Scott also said he disagreed with Crist’s veto.

“As governor, I would have signed the pro-life ultrasound legislation that has passed both house of the Florida legislature and was vetoed by Charlie Crist for political reasons,” he said. “This important legislation not only demonstrates that abortion is the taking of an innocent human life but also prevents Florida taxpayers from funding abortion through the federal health care plan that recently passed Congress.”

Crist’s veto drew heavy condemnation from pro-life advocates — including Sen.-elect Marco Rubio afterwards.

In 2006, there were 95,586 abortions performed in Florida, the latest year in which state health department data is available. The ultrasound bill would likely reduce that number.