Tag: abortion rights
DeSantis Wields Extra-Legal Powers to Fight Florida Abortion, Pot Amendments
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis just can’t help himself: If there is a way to wield authoritarian power to advance his own political ends, he will do it and Florida law and Floridians be damned.
The Tampa Bay Times has reported on Puddin Fingers’ latest nefarious attempt to undermine Amendment 3, which would legalize recreational marijuana use. Herr Governor used the Florida Department of Transportation to issue a 30-second public service announcement paid with state funds asserting that “DUI crashes increase in states with legalized marijuana, putting everyone at risk.”
Except: The preliminary results of an Insurance Institute for Highway Safety study of injured drivers who visited emergency rooms in California, Colorado and Oregon showed that drivers who used marijuana alone were no more likely to be involved in crashes than drivers who hadn’t used the drug. That is consistent with a 2015 study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that found that a positive test for marijuana was not associated with increased risk of being involved in a police-reported crash.
But that’s not all. Not content to let the citizens of Florida make up their own minds about access to reproductive medical treatment, the failed presidential candidate and go-go boot–wearing governor also sent his private army of goons to the homes of people who had signed a petition to get Amendment 4 on the ballot to ostensibly corroborate that they actually signed the petition, which would overturn Florida’s Draconian six-week abortion law. This, after the deadline to challenge the petition had passed.That was a ham-handed and clearly illegal use of state resources to further MeatBall Ron’s personal agenda.
[…]
Potential Result of Florida’s Six-Week Abortion Ban — A Dearth of Doctors Florida's Republican legislature didn't consider the unintended consequences
In the wake of the Trump-packed Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision that undid 50 years of Roe v. Wade abortion rights protections, the notoriously short-sighted and dim-witted Republican-run Florida legislature passed a law banning abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, which went into effect in May.
Besides being one of the strictest anti-abortion laws in the country, the ban appears to be affecting the number of medical students applying for residencies in the state and is reducing the number of young physicians who plan to practice in Florida, reports the Tampa Bay Times.
According to an analysis by researchers at the nonprofit Association of American Medical Colleges, in the two residency application cycles following the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022, states with near-total abortion bans and states with gestational limits, such as Florida, saw larger year-over-year declines in residency applicants compared to states where the procedure is legal.
According to the Tampa Bay Times:
[…]