Vice President Kamala Harris blames former President Donald Trump for Florida's new abortion ban law, and more information about the agency in charge of enforcing it. 

'This is a fight for freedom': In Jacksonville, VP Harris blames Trump for Florida's 6-week abortion ban

Hours after Florida’s six-week abortion ban took effect, Vice President Kamala Harris visited the Sunshine State to lay responsibility for the new law directly on former President Donald Trump, and warn that a second Trump presidency would be “even worse” for those who support keeping the practice accessible. 

“As much harm as he has already caused, a second Trump term would be even worse,” the vice president said at a campaign event in Jacksonville on Wednesday. 

Harris made the case that Trump — her and President Joe Biden’s likely 2024 rival — would sign a national ban on abortions should he win another four years in the White House, despite the former president’s recent pledge that he would not.  

"We all know this is a fight for freedom," Harris said. "Across our nation, we witness a full-on assault, state-by-state, on reproductive freedom. And understand who's to blame: Former President Donald Trump did this."

“Here’s what a second Trump term looks like: more bans, more suffering, less freedom,” she added. “But we are not going to let that happen.” 

Trump appointed three of the Supreme Court justices who were in the majority of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, the decision that reversed Roe v. Wade in June 2022, returning states the issue of whether and how much to restrict abortions, and paving the way for restrictions and bans on the practice in states across the country.  

“And today, this very day at the stroke of midnight, another Trump abortion ban went into effect here in Florida,” Harris said Wednesday. “As of this morning, 4 million women in this state woke up with fewer reproductive freedoms than they had last night. This is the new reality under a Trump abortion ban.” 

Florida’s six-week abortion ban, signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis one year ago, leaves a 15-week exception for victims of rape, incest and human trafficking, and additional exceptions for fatal fetal abnormalities, the life of the birthing parent or "substantial and irreversible" physical impairment.

But the law offers a very short window for a procedure.

A pregnancy is counted from the first day after a woman’s last period. A woman with a regular four-week menstrual cycle then only has two weeks after a missed period to realize they might be pregnant, then go through the process to obtain an abortion procedure. 

“Florida became subject to an abortion ban so extreme it applies before many women even know they are pregnant,” Harris said on Wednesday. “Which, by the way, tells us the extremists who wrote this ban either don't know how a woman's body works, or they simply don't care.”

The vice president also criticized how the ban threatens doctors and nurses with criminal prosecution.

In a statement on the ban taking effect, Biden — who traveled to Florida himself last week to highlight the issue — criticized Trump’s response to the topic in a recent interview with TIME magazine.

“Just yesterday, he once again endorsed punishing women for getting the care they need,” Biden said in a statement. “Trump is worried the voters will hold him accountable for the cruelty and chaos he created. He’s right. Trump ripped away the rights and freedom of women in America.” 

In the interview, among other things, Trump suggested that states "might" have to monitor women’s pregnancies to ensure that a pregnancy ban is not being violated, which Harris said is proof that Trump believes it’s "fair game for women to be monitored and punished by the government."

Biden released a video through his reelection campaign about Trump's abortion remarks to TIME, calling them "shocking."

Who will enforce the new abortion ban?

Florida’s new abortion law says that whomever actively participates in a restricted abortion is committing a felony.

Although Gov. Ron DeSantis and lawmakers have said women will not be prosecuted for seeking in abortion, the law does leave the door open to a gray area.

So how does the state plan to enforce this new law?

On the enforcement side, not a lot appears to be changing in terms of oversight because of this new ban.

However, the Agency for Health Care Administration is working constantly to make sure clinics do, in fact, follow the new restrictions.

While the six-week ban was written and passed inside the Florida Capitol, a little known agency just down the road in Tallahassee will oversee its enforcement at clinics.

“The Agency for Health Care Administration can and will conduct spontaneous inspections of your medical files and when they can, will absolutely slap fines onto you,” State Rep. Anna Eskamani said about the law.

According to records, the AHCA has carried out more than 230 on-site inspections since 2022. The result is more than $500,000 dollars in fines.

That’s why some say the new ban will only make things harder for those providing abortion-related procedures.

The agency, however, focuses only on clinics, not people. They’re expecting agencies to follow the ban.

“As always, the agency expects providers to comply with Florida law and will be adding the new abortion requirements to our survey process,” said AHCA Deputy Chief of Staff Alecia Collins.