The rare 20-20 tie vote -- and the behind-the-scenes maneuvering that led to it -- pitted Senate Republican leader Dan Webster, who sponsored the bill, against former Senate President Jim King, a Republican who built a coalition of GOP moderates and Democrats to kill it.
''Unless you ovulate or have ovulated, we have no business as males interfering with your female decision on reproduction,'' King said. ``A woman making a decision that she wants to abort, that decision should be honored.''
Webster, clearly disappointed, wasn't surprised.
''I have lost more bills on the floor of the Senate than the entire Senate [membership] combined,'' said Webster, who is leaving office due to term limits after 28 years in the Legislature.
Key to the bill's defeat were members of a GOP Senate coalition known as the ''Schiavo Nine,'' named for joining Democrats in 2005 to block the Legislature from intervening in the case of Terri Schiavo, a brain-damaged woman whose family fought over ending her life support. Seven Republicans and 13 Democrats voted against the abortion bill, creating the 20-20 tie that meant it failed. One Democrat, Sen. Gary Siplin of Orlando, voted with 19 Republicans in favor of the bill.
Lacking the votes to pass the bill, Webster had repeatedly delayed the abortion showdown to preserve goodwill in the Senate during tense budget negotiations.
In defense of his bill, Webster had said requiring an ultrasound before an abortion mandates something most doctors already do.
A woman with proof she was a victim of rape, incest, domestic violence or human trafficking would be exempt from viewing the scan, as would women for whom delaying an abortion would cause bodily harm or who signed a release saying she didn't want to see it.
`GOOD ... PRACTICE'
Supporters have said the scans are necessary so doctors know how old the fetus is and so women can make an informed medical decision.
''If good medical practice dictates screening, what does no screening mean?'' Webster asked. ``Fill in the blank. It's bad medical practice.''
But opponents said the ultrasound provision was a veiled strategy to create another hurdle for abortions. They also said the bill would make the procedure more expensive by requiring women to pay for the scans, which can cost several hundred dollars. And that could leave poor women unable to afford the abortion.
`UNDUE BURDEN'
''This bill places a financial burden on them, and it places an undue burden on them,'' said Sen. Nan Rich, a Weston Democrat. ``This is an anguishing, heart-wrenching decision for women.''
Florida law requires ultrasounds now for abortions during the second and third trimesters. The proposed law would extend that requirement to the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, when most abortions are performed.
House lawmakers approved a similar bill on largely party-line votes this year and last year. But senators kept a similar proposal from getting a full vote last year, worried that the divisive bill would hurt the historic unity of the chamber.
This year, senators spent more than 90 minutes Wednesday in an emotional debate about pregnancy, privacy and women's rights that crossed party lines.
King helped lead the Schiavo Nine against the abortion proposal, saying it violated Republican principles of less government. Webster said this was an act to ensure better medical care.
The contrast between the two Republicans couldn't be more stark: King, a political operator, is a champion joke-teller and stout glad-hander who boasts of being the ``best quote in Florida.''
Webster, a policy wonk, is lanky, has a wry sense of humor and playfully bats about quotes from Proverbs. Among them: ``To the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.''
FRIENDLY RIVALRY
Where King drinks liquor, Webster is a milk and OJ man. And, as one staffer joked, King goes to bed about the same time the early-rising Webster gets out of bed.
The friendly rivalry between the two men -- who hugged after a goodbye tribute to Webster -- stretches back to the 1996 Republican takeover of the House of Representatives for the first time since Reconstruction. Then, Webster edged out King to become speaker. King went on to become Senate president in 2003-04.
Many of the Republican lawmakers who opposed the abortion proposal noted that they had voted for the state's ban on late-term abortions and its parental-notification law for minors seeking abortions. They said the ultrasound proposal interfered with the doctor-patient relationship.
`AFRAID'
The victory for the ultrasound opponents may be short-lived, as term limits take their toll and more conservative members, such as Sen. Ronda Storms, a Valrico Republican, take their seats.
''What is it that we might be afraid of in an ultrasound?'' Storms asked during the abortion debate. ``Oh, I don't know. Could it be that in the ultrasound she might see the baby -- the unborn -- putting his thumb to his mouth and sucking his thumb before she has an abortion? Could that be what we're afraid of? So we think then she won't have it and we think she shouldn't have to see that?''
