TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- A bill now moving in the Florida Legislature would make nearly all abortions illegal.
The House Criminal Justice Committee passed the bill on an 8-3 vote Monday.
The bill defines life as beginning at conception and prohibits abortion except when two physicians certify in writing that it's necessary to prevent death or serious, permanent injury to the mother.
But even some anti-abortion legislators say the bill violates the Florida Constitution and U.S. Supreme Court decisions and likely wouldn't survive a court challenge.
Republican state Rep. Charles Van Zant of Keystone Heights has filed the bill every year for seven years, but it's never received a committee hearing before.
Its odds of passage still may be slim, as backers acknowledge it's unlikely to get a hearing in the state Senate.
