Although pro-choice advocates lost the fight to enshrine abortion rights into the Florida Constitution when Amendment 4 failed to meet the 60% threshold required to become law, a South Florida Democratic lawmaker says she will file a bill to clarify medical exceptions that allow legal abortions past the standing six-week cutoff.
“I am not optimistic, but I am focusing purely on medical exceptions. Because we don’t want women in Florida dying,” she added.
Polsky says clarity is needed because of constituents like Anya Cook.
Cook is a Broward County resident whose water broke in 2022 when she was 16 weeks pregnant. Her doctor told her she would lose her fetus. But because her situation occurred past the state’s then-15-week ban, she was told to go home — where, ultimately, she suffered a miscarriage in a bathroom. She recounted her story before a nationwide audience at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago last August.
The six-week abortion ban passed by the Legislature in 2023, which took effect May 1, provides exceptions for rape, incest, or human trafficking if the age of the fetus is not more than 15 weeks as determined by the physician.
The law also says that a physician may perform or induce a termination of a pregnancy if two physicians certify in writing that the procedure is necessary to save the patient’s life or avert a serious risk of substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function of the patient other than a psychological condition.
The law also allows for just one physician to certify the same problems if another physician is not available for consultation.
“I’m going to fight as hard as I can. Because I’m not going to change the underlying law, I’m asking them to clarify that women are not going to die, and I know [Senate] Leader Albritton doesn’t want anyone to die,” Polsky said.
“Nobody wants women to die. So, if there’s a way to clarify, I want hospital executives to say, ‘This is what I need in writing so I can allow these procedures to happen.’ I want OB/GYNs to say, ‘This is what I need in writing.’ It’s going to be really streamlined. And I just think it’s so important that we protect women.”
‘I’m hopeful’
Polsky says she has no plans to file legislation seeking repeal of the six-week ban, but House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell says she’d like to see someone file such a bill.
“I am hopeful that we can revisit the restrictions currently placed on women and their ability to have agency over their own bodies and give medical professionals the clearer guidance they have been asking for,” she said on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Polsky and Democratic Senate Minority Leader Jason Pizzo continued to blast the DeSantis administration’s decision to use millions in taxpayer dollars to pay for public service announcements opposing Amendment 4 in Florida.
“Going forward, I think people should stop spending money that we haven’t allocated or appropriated,” Pizzo told reporters.
But newly elected Republican Senate President Ben Albritton told news reporters on Tuesday that he was “highly supportive” of the public use of taxpayer dollars to combat the abortion-rights initiative.
He said they were aired to combat “many of the lies” of Yes on 4 ads he said he saw on television. The ads asserted that there were no exceptions for rape, incest, the health of the mother, or human trafficking in current law.
“Using that money for educational purposes matters to Floridians because we wanted them to cast a vote based on accurate information,” he said.
When asked if he thought it was appropriate to use taxpayer funds to advocate for a political position, he said yes.
“Using taxpayer dollars in an effort to educate taxpayers on the issues that we have at hand is a reasonable use of those monies,” said Albritton. “Yes, I agree with that.”
Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com. Follow Florida Phoenix on Facebook and X.
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This article appears in Nov 21-27, 2024.