JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Proposed laws that will create a reimbursement possibility for metropolis staff touring for “reproductive rights-related medical therapy” shall be launched on the Jacksonville Metropolis Council assembly on Tuesday.
Metropolis Councilman Reggie Gaffney’s invoice is being launched as an emergency invoice, which might imply it might solely want one cycle earlier than it takes impact, however it isn’t anticipated to move.
At a information convention Monday on the steps of Metropolis Corridor, Gaffney, who can be working for a state Senate seat, spoke in regards to the invoice. He mentioned he does not imagine in abortion, however that does not cease him from introducing the invoice.
“I like Jesus as a lot as anybody, however I simply suppose a lady has a proper to decide on what she needs to do together with her physique, and I do not suppose it is a man’s job to do this,” Gaffney mentioned.
Advert
READ: Gaffney Reproductive Rights Journey Reimbursement Invoice
News4JAX first reported on this invoice on Friday, and on the time, though he launched the laws, Gaffney did not wish to speak about it on digicam.
On Friday afternoon, Gaffney launched an announcement saying: “As a person of religion, sporting this could not be my private choice. Nevertheless, as a legislator I signify all folks and can struggle for his or her freedom and their proper to have choices, and each lady deserves this selection.”
Gaffney’s invoice comes on the heels of an preliminary leaked Supreme Courtroom majority opinion on Roe v. Wade that has abortion rights advocates combating again.
Advert
If the Supreme Courtroom’s draft stands, it primarily sends the difficulty of abortion rights again to the states, because it was earlier than 1973, when the Roe resolution established on the federal stage lady had the appropriate to an abortion.
If states are within the driving seat of abortion legal guidelines, Florida and Georgia have Republican-dominated legislatures which have labored laborious to implement strict restrictions on abortion. Florida simply handed a 15-week abortion ban, and Georgia’s fetal heartbeat legislation has primarily been halted by a federal court docket.
Meaning a neighborhood lady who wished an abortion might need to journey out of state, past neighboring Georgia, to have one legally.
Gaffney’s invoice seems to be getting ready for that risk by establishing that Jacksonville metropolis staff who go for such therapy might be reimbursed for his or her journey bills.
Advert
If handed, the invoice would take impact July 1 and would permit as much as $four,000 in annual journey bills for a metropolis worker for any medical therapy associated to reproductive rights if that therapy will not be out there inside 100 miles. from the worker’s house and digital care will not be out there. attainable.
Below the invoice, these remedies might embody drugs, procedures or operations, together with the termination of a being pregnant, the usage of contraceptives, household planning or entry to reproductive well being providers.
Republican members of the Metropolis Council, corresponding to Councilman Rory Diamond, say the invoice won’t ever move.
As for the mayor’s workplace, it is a piece of laws that he’s not commenting on presently.
Copyright 2022 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.
