Rep. Bob Rommel: There is a ‘Movement’ in House to Revisit Abortion Restrictions
NAPLES (FLV) – State Rep. Bob Rommel, R-Naples, said he senses there is a movement in the Florida House to pass stricter abortion laws.
Rommel is a restaurant owner who was first elected to the Florida House in 2016 and chairs the Commerce Committee.
“I think there’s definitely a movement, but then obviously there’s people that that have mixed feelings and they’re sympathetic to some of the stories that we hear and we can be sympathetic, but we still sometimes you just have to do what’s right,” Rommel said.
Florida lawmakers passed a 15-week abortion ban in the previous legislative session. It does not include exceptions for rape and incest.
As a guest speaker on the Patriot Talk Show Tuesday, Rommel said he wanted lawmakers to approve the heartbeat bill. A heartbeat bill would ban abortions if there is a heartbeat detected.
“I wish on the Democrat side, when we pass a bill, they always bring up rape and incest. But when they, in New York, they passed a bill where you can basically a minute before the baby is born. They celebrated it like they won the super bowl. That was Cuomo and it was maybe the most disgusting time I’ve ever seen in politics,” Rommel said.
“Listen, there’s always going to be some kind of special situation, but can we start celebrating life and get back to where people understand their decisions? There’s consequences and life is a pretty good consequence.”
Senate President Passidomo previously told Florida’s Voice that if the Supreme Court upholds the law, lawmakers may be able to get a 12-week ban passed with the rape and incest exception. Rommel was asked if the House could possibly see a 12-week abortion ban pass.
“You know, obviously this is a very personal issue for so many folks and I get it,” he explained. “I mean, I wish nobody had abortions because every single second of life is so important to so many people and I think in general people take life for granted until it’s gone.”
State lawmakers also plan to tackle the ESG criteria, which stands for Environmental, Social, and Governance goals. The criteria determines investment based on factors such as renewable energy and diversity initiatives.
“In practice, ESG demands that companies adopt radical environmental and diversity goals and uses a scoring system to reward or punish companies based on their compliance,” House Speaker Paul Renner said.
Rommel has researched ESG for more than a year and the effects it has on companies.
“In another life, I was a mortgage banker and we had anti-discrimination laws, you had to loan money based on people’s ability to pay it back. And what you’re used as a judgment was their job, their income, and their previous payment history,” Rommel explained. “Now, that’s out the window, saying that doesn’t matter. We want to know how good you are to the environment, how many how diverse you are in your personal life, your business life, and to me it’s wrong. It’s another form of discrimination.”
There are rumblings that lawmakers may expand the Parental Rights in Education law. The law prohibits educators from teaching K-3 grade students about gender identity and sexual orientation. Critics had dubbed it “Don’t Say Gay.”
“I don’t think we went far enough. I don’t know what age a teacher should be teaching kids about sexuality but I know it’s the third grade still way too young,” Rommel said. “It should be up to your parents, your guardian, your priest, your pastor. Not some teacher that may want to indoctrinate you one way or the other. It’s wrong. It’s wrong in our K-12.”
Gov. Ron DeSantis and Speaker Renner have said Florida will pass constitutional carry legislation. Constitutional carry, also known as permitless carry, would allow Floridians who follow gun laws to conceal a handgun without obtaining a concealed weapons permit.
“Whatever day it is, I’ll be the first person to push the green button,” Rommel said.
There are 25 other states with constitutional carry or permitless carry laws on the books.
