The statement below can be attributed to Lynda Bell, president of Florida Right to Life.

Today is a historic day! Today, we expand the protection of our precious unborn babies and provide care and support for their mothers. This bill greatly expands care for our pregnant mothers with 25 million added to the budget to help pregnant mothers in need.

HB 7 passed today after a marathon hearing with more than 50 amendments offered, all were defeated.

This bill passed strictly along party lines, with not one democrat voting in favor of life. They also voted against maternal care and providing for women in an unplanned pregnancy . . . what happened to caring about women?

After listening to hours of testimony by the full house, one thing is clear. The pro-abortion left believes the answer to poverty is ending the lives of babies born into poor circumstances. That is quite sad.

I also heard the term “unwanted baby” many times. There is no such thing as an unwanted baby every year approximately one-million families are waiting to adopt a precious baby. While there may be unplanned pregnancies, those precious babies are wanted by someone!

While testifying in both the Senate and the House committees I was struck by the lack of correct science. One of the worst and most egregious experiences was listening to many legislators use scripture to defend the killing of the most innocent. Fortunately, many on the pro-life side correctly applied scripture (and science) to the issue of life.

Ten days ago, SB 300 sponsored by Senator Erin Grall with many cosponsors passed overwhelmingly; and today the final step, HB 7 sponsored by Representative Jenna Persons-Mulicka, Jennifer Canady and many co-sponsors passed!

Florida Right to Life is elated, we have worked for years and years to see this day come to fruition.

We thank the bill sponsors and the many members who voted in favor of life. We also thank the countless members of Florida Right to Life who showed up to speak and called and emailed their representatives. We could not have done this without all of you!