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Governor Charlie Crist vetoed a controversial bill that would have made getting an abortion in Florida harder. The measure would have required women in their first trimester to pay for an ultrasound before they could have an abortion. Both sides lobbied the governor with rallies, protest and letter campaigns. Progress Florida was one of the groups calling for a veto. Director Damien Filer says the bill would have put politics in the doctor’s office.

“What it would have done is insert politics and politicians into the exam room, in-between women and their doctors, exactly where they don’t belong. Today they got kicked out of that exam room and that’s a good thing,” said Filer.

Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum wrote a letter to the governor asking him to sign the legislation. His spokeswoman, Sandi Copes, says McCollum likes a provision in the bill banning taxpayer dollars from being spent on abortion as well as language to overthrow part of the new federal health care regulations.

“There was a provision in there that would have effected whether or not Congress could mandate individual coverage of health insurance and it would have enabled the Attorney General to further represent individuals in court,“ said Copes.

The veto will allow the state GOP to run ads against Crist in his race for US Senate, questioning the governor’s previous statements that he is pro-life.