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Charlotte Kesl

Republican legislators in Florida hit the pause button on a bill that would have given any “unborn child” new protections after opponents raised concerns it would impact women’s reproductive rights in ways similar to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/02/19/alabama-supreme-court-embryos-children-ivf/" target=_blank>the Alabama IVF ruling</a>.

The bill had passed easily through most committees in the Republican-led legislature until Democrats began raising concerns last week that the proposal was so broad that it might also impact in vitro fertilization treatments.

The legislation sought to define a fetus as an “unborn child” shielded by civil negligence laws. Supporters said the measure would bring civil law in line with existing state criminal law that allows for additional penalties against people charged with harming a pregnant woman.

Opponents called it an effort to establish “fetal personhood” that would put <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/abortion/" target="_blank" class="contextual_link">abortion</a> providers and people who help women obtain an abortion at risk of being sued.

“Although I have worked diligently to respond to questions and concerns, I understand there is still work that needs to be done,” state Sen. Erin Grall, who sponsored the bill, said in a statement. “It is important we get the policy right with an issue of this significance.”

The Florida bill’s derailment comes as Republicans grapple with the political fallout from the Alabama Supreme Court ruling declaring embryos children. While many in the GOP were initially quiet on the ruling, conservative lawmakers are <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/02/23/ivf-restrictions-republicans-election/" target=_blank>now voicing their support for IVF</a>. The issue underscores the party’s election-year challenges over women’s reproductive rights.

In Florida, lawmakers pulled a Senate Rules Committee hearing for a companion bill off the calendar on Monday. The committee is not scheduled to meet again this session, which ends March 8, making it unlikely that the bill will advance.

Republican state Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulicka, who sponsored the bill in the House, said the bill was about the “value of the life of an unborn child.” The lawmaker, who also sponsored <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/04/13/florida-abortion-six-week-ban/" target=_blank>the six-week abortion ban</a> signed by Gov. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/candidates/ron-desantis-2024/" target="_blank" class="contextual_link">Ron DeSantis</a> (R) last year, said the bill was not meant to be a hard look at protections for IVF and embryos.

For opponents, including state Rep. Dotie Joseph (D), the bill’s language wasn’t precise enough to rule out impacts to IVF.

“We are exposing the health care provider to liability if something goes wrong,” she said. “You have a situation where you are creating a chilling effect for people who are proactively trying to have a baby.”

Much of the public debate on the measure came after the Alabama ruling, with supporters hoping that it might have far-reaching impacts for the unborn and opponents worrying it would erode protections for women and physicians.

“I’m going to say the quiet part out loud,” said Andrew Shirvell, founder of an organization that opposes abortion access. “Florida Voice for the Unborn supports this legislation precisely because it’s another reaffirmation that unborn children should be considered nothing less than human persons under our state laws and our state constitution.”

Mark Delegal, a lobbyist who represents companies that insure doctors, said one of his concerns was how damages would be awarded if a doctor were sued under the bill.

Florida already has a shortage of obstetricians and gynecologists, and they pay some of the highest medical malpractice insurance rates in the country. Delegal said obstetricians in Los Angeles pay $49,000 in annual premiums, compared to Miami, where premiums average $226,000 a year. If the bill were to pass, so-called “net accumulations” measuring someone’s potential lifetime worth could subject physicians to extensive new liabilities, he said.

“Net accumulations … means something like, ‘My child would have been Elon Musk, therefore I can sue for those types of damages,’” Delegal said. “It’s unknown how that can play out.”

The debate also comes as the Florida Supreme Court is weighing whether to allow <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/02/07/florida-abortion-amendment-supreme-court/" target=_blank>a proposed amendment</a> that would codify abortion rights in the state constitution on the ballot in November, as well as a legal challenge to the state’s 15-week abortion ban.

Lawmakers in several states have attempted to <a href="https://www.guttmacher.org/state-legislation-tracker" target=_blank>introduce bills</a> granting fetuses rights from conception but none have passed. Legal experts have said the Alabama ruling might embolden the “personhood movement.” Abortion rights advocates have said they long feared such a ruling since the fall of <i>Roe v. Wade</i>.

University of Florida

Lori Rozsa is a reporter based in Florida who covers the state for The Washington Post. She is a former correspondent for People magazine and a former reporter and bureau chief for the Miami Herald.

Lori Rozsa

washpost

Florida lawmakers postpone ‘fetal personhood’ bill after Alabama IVF ruling

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Daniel Baker Arrest in Tallahassee 

For the Washington Post 

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