Republican Sen. Erin Grall filed a bill Wednesday letting parents collect damages in the wrongful death of a fetus at any stage of development.
The Fort Pierce Republican put forward the same proposal during the 2024 legislative session, but ultimately paused following backlash from pro-choice advocates, Democrats, and then-Senate President Kathleen Passidomo.
The definition of “unborn child” in the bill, SB 1284, is a “member of the species Homo sapiens, at any stage of development, who is carried in the womb,” which prompted criticism about whether the bill would establish fetal personhood.
Grall hinted that she would bring the bill back at some future date as she pulled it out of a committee hearing toward the end of the 60-day session.
“I want to make sure we get it right. So, we’re just gonna wait and see if that can continue to happen, or if it’s this type of thing that we need to do a little bit more work between now and next session,” Grall said at the time.
But she made no substantial changes between last year’s bill and the proposal she filed Wednesday.
The bill wouldn’t allow any suits against the pregnant person, but parents would be entitled to compensation for mental pain and suffering from death caused by negligence.
Ben Albritton, the chamber’s current leader, voted in favor of it in two committees last year.
“I think she’ll probably come back next year with a better product that everybody can look at, where it has not been weaponized by advocates on both sides for something that it is not,” Passidomo told reporters after Grall paused the bill. “To do a personhood bill or an abortion bill in a liability statute is wrong, and I think we have to sort that out.”
Passidomo still serves in the Senate as chair of the Rules Committee.
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This article appears in Feb 27 – Mar 5, 2025.