DeSantis OKs pregnancy and parenting resources website that will cost more than $466K

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Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed a bill that will put $466,200 toward creation of a pregnancy and parenting resources website. The bill garnered criticism from Democrats who questioned the cost of the website and its potential contents.

The state’s health agencies (Florida Department of Health, Florida Agency for Health Care Administration, and the Florida Department for Children and Families) will maintain the site, which will point expecting parents to state resources.

Agency staff won’t develop the website. Instead, the health department is tasked with finding a company to launch the project by July 2025.

The governor’s office announced DeSantis’ approval on Friday evening of HB 415 in a Sunday press release.

Resources on the website would include maternal health services, prenatal and postnatal services, and adoption services. During the legislative session, Democrats pushed for the website to provide information about abortion access but Republicans refused.

Ultimately, the Legislature approved the bill on an 83-33 vote in the House and a 27-12 vote in the Senate.

The Senate sponsor of the bill, Republican Erin Grall, a Republican representing a district centered on Fort Pierce, said during floor debate that the website would include crisis pregnancy centers among the resources because they receive funding from the state. Those centers may offer services such as pregnancy tests and ultrasounds but steer people away from abortions.

‘Indoctrination’

“As far as the cost goes, I was pointing out that the Department of Health should have their own capability to do this already,” Democratic Sen. Tina Polsky of Broward and Palm Beach counties said in a phone interview with Florida Phoenix.

“They have a very active website with a lot of material and actually a lot of pregnancy resources already there, so I don’t know why they would need to hire outside people to put this together. I mean, it’s clearly going to be an avenue for pregnancy crisis centers and trying to continue their indoctrination of women to not have a choice in their pregnancies.”

Under the state’s abortion ban, people can get the procedure beyond six weeks only in cases of human trafficking, rape, incest, a fatal fetal abnormality, or if it is deemed medically necessary. It’s one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country, considering that most people don’t realize they’re pregnant by six weeks’ gestation.

Out of the more than 84,000 abortions AHCA reported in the state during 2023, 374 happened because of a fatal defect in the fetus, 251 happened because the life of the pregnant person was in danger, and a combined 120 happened because the pregnancy was the result of incest, rape, and human trafficking.

That was when Florida imposed a 15-week abortion ban. The six-week ban took effect on May 1 of this year.

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