A proposed six-week ban on abortion cleared its last committee Tuesday and will head to the full Florida Senate for a vote.
Sen. Lori Berman, D-Boynton Beach, tried and failed to add amendments to the proposed six-week ban that would prevent the bill from being the strictest of its type in the country. If the bill is approved, not only would a woman be banned from having an abortion after six weeks, she would need to wait 24 hours between consenting to a procedure and having one.
“By including a 24-hour waiting period, it’s a total ban,” Berman said. “No one can get in two visits and schedule an abortion within six weeks. Florida will be the only state that has a six-week ban as strict as ours.”
Berman also tried and failed to include an amendment that would create an exception for women in psychological distress who could have a mental impairment by giving birth.
“We know that carrying a pregnancy and giving birth are not without risk to the pregnant person physically or mentally, so this amendment adds language that two physicians can certify for termination of pregnancy if the pregnant person faces serious risk of mental impairment,” Berman proposed.
Instead, the six-week ban moves to the Senate for a vote, which had approved a 15-week restriction on abortion last year. The six-week ban proposed by Sen. Erin Grall, R-Fort Pierce, includes exceptions for rape and incest until 15-weeks of pregnancy, but only if a victim provides documentation of a crime. It also requires pills for use in a medical abortion be dispensed in person, prohibiting mail orders.
A controversial provision of Grall’s proposed bill generated significant debate in the state’s Senate Committee on Fiscal Policy. Tucked in the bill is a five-fold increase in taxpayer funding for anti-abortion centers known as Pregnancy Help Medical Clinics. These clinics have the appearance of abortion clinics but counsel women toward parenting or adoption. State funding would jump to $25 million from $4.45 million in 2022.
The House version does not include the $25 million provision.
Grall received pointed questions from other lawmakers at the meeting about accountability and oversight of these clinics. Florida does not require the anti-abortion centers to have medical personnel on staff or those who provide medical services to be licensed or inspected.
Grall said the goal of the centers are to help women have healthy pregnancies and make adoption referrals when that information is wanted. She was asked if the clinics have to comply with federal privacy law known as HIPPA. Women have claimed the centers have contact family members, partners, employers and others about their pregnancy.
“If there are healthcare services provided by a healthcare provider, HIPAA is still in fact a requirement,” Grall said. “I don’t know that circumstances under which each individual comes into the center and what has been presented to those individuals as the responsibility of the center when it comes to confidentiality.”
Berman asked Grall to provide data to support statements that the clinics are bettering health outcomes for infants or mothers. “I don’t believe there is specific data in terms of outcomes because they don’t track health outcomes right now because they are not a primary health care provider. They are a provider of other services to connect women to support in order to maintain pregnancies,” Grall said.
Berman also asked about financial reports, how facilities spend their money and whether the $25 million can be spent on billboards. Grall said state dollars do not fund 100% of the clinics and that the bill requires an annual report to the governor and Legislature each July.
Sen. Geraldine Thompson, D-Orlando, wanted to know about the demographics of the crisis pregnancy centers and how many were in inner cities.
Grall said 98 subcontractors in Florida providing these “parenting support” services throughout the state and all who go to them are “women in need who have challenges getting access to services.” Grall said she did not have information on income and ethnic backgrounds.
For five hours, hundreds of people including college students, high school teachers, reproductive rights and pro-life advocates as well as medical professionals spoke before the committee to support or oppose the Senate bill that would ban termination of pregnancy after the gestational age of six weeks.
Some women spoke about their own abortion experiences and their appreciation for choice, while others debated when life begins and whether six weeks was an appropriate time frame.
Sen. Shevrin Jones, D-Miami Gardens, asked several health professionals who spoke about the average time it takes to get an appointment with an OB/GYN. The answers varied from weeks to months.
“Are there more barriers in access to healthcare in the black community?” he asked Dr. Nancy Stotz, an anesthesiologist who spoke at the meeting. “Yes, that’s why this law is a near total ban,” she said.
Former Miami-Dade Commissioner Katy Sorenson acknowledged that the vote of the committee was predictable and would go along party lines — just as it mostly did on Tuesday.
Yet, she said her family would be OK because they could afford to travel for abortions, noting that those who can’t will be teens, single mothers and victims of domestic violence, people of color or homeless.
“As legislators you have great power and your power will affect lives for years to come,” she said. “Do you really know what’s best for every family in Florida?”
Sorensen and others asked lawmakers how they will support all the babies and mothers who are forced to give birth.
“I assume we can count on you to expand Medicaid so everyone has access to healthcare, and you will be providing safe, quality childcare to the children who were born because of your policies and laws because of course their mothers will have to work to support them,” Sorensen said. “Further, you will supplement the income of families who can’t afford to live in this expensive state with more children than they can afford.”
“After this draconian law passes, I look forward to the mitigation, but I’m not holding my breath,” she said.
All committee members voted along party lines except for Republican Sen. Alexis Calatayud of Miami who said she told her constituents she was pro-life but promised voters she would support the state’s current 15-week ban on abortions.
“My word means everything to me, and I stand by my commitments I made to the people who elected me,” she said.
The companion House bill has one more committee stop expected to happen this week before it goes to the full House for a vote. The full Senate may take up the abortion bill, known “pregnancy and parenting support” as early as Thursday.
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