Credit: Wesh.
https://www.wesh.com/article/political-ad-florida-house-race/46269946
One of the candidates in a local state House race is the target of a new political attack ad.
It claims she supports Florida’s abortion ban with no exceptions for rape or incest.
“Florida has one of the most extreme abortion laws in America. It bans abortion before most women know they’re pregnant. And could put women and doctors in jail,” an advertisement said.
That’s how a new television ad from the Florida House Democratic Campaign Committee begins.
The arm of the Florida Democratic Party is investing in the District 35 Florida House special election in support of Tom Keen.
The district covers eastern Osceola and Orange counties to the Brevard County line.
The election is Jan. 16.
Keen’s opponent, Erika Booth, is the target of the ad.
She’s a Republican and a current member of the Osceola County School Board.
Before we get too far, let’s look at the first three claims. Does Florida have “one of the most extreme abortion laws in America?”
Let’s get the facts. That’s mostly true.
While 14 states have completely banned pregnancy termination after conception, Florida’s six-week ban, signed into law April 13, is close.
However, it’s worth noting the Florida Supreme Court has yet to rule on an earlier 15-week ban passed in 2022.
If it deems the 15-week ban to be constitutional, 30 days later, the six-week ban called the Heartbeat Protection Act will take effect.
The ad also claims at six weeks that most women don’t know they’re pregnant. We’ll call that a political spin.
Pregnancy tests can be inaccurate under six weeks.
Many women don’t see a doctor until 12 weeks.
And while the National Institutes of Health reported in 2018 that, on average, “women become aware of their pregnancies around 5.5 weeks gestation,” NIH also concluded the “percentage of late pregnancy awareness was 27%” and higher among low-income women.
On the claim that it “could put women and doctors in jail” — that’s misleading. Even the attribution is misleading.
After California Gov. Gavin Newsom claimed on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, on Nov. 19, 2023, that the law signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis would have doctors and women “guilty of a felony” for abortions after six weeks, Politifact rated Newsom’s statement “half true” noting, “DeSantis has said he does not want to jail women who have abortions.”
The ad doesn’t mention that.
The law, SB 300, reads this way: “Any person who willfully performs, or actively participates in a termination of pregnancy (after six weeks) … commits a felony” without specifically saying, beyond a doctor, exactly who might be charged.
Now, this specific claim against Booth regarding the six-week abortion ban: “Erika Booth supports it. And she’d allow no exceptions for victims of incest or women who’ve been raped.”
Taking this in two parts, it’s a fact that Booth supports a six-week abortion ban.
Her own mailer says that she’ll fight for “life,” which she says “begins at conception.”
As for the claim that she “supports no exceptions,” we simply don’t know.
We can find no Booth statements on abortion exceptions.
However, she does claim to support the governor’s “agenda,” and the law he signed provides exceptions for rape and incest up to 15 weeks.
Mail-in voting in the House District 35 race is already underway, and voters in Orange and Osceola counties can begin early voting on Saturday.
WESH 2 News phoned, texted and emailed Booth numerous times in recent days to ask for her response to the ad, but we did not hear back.
District 35 covers the eastern side of Osceola County up through east Orange County and out to the Brevard County line.
The seat was vacated when representative Fred Hawkins resigned to accept the job of president at South Florida State College.