Anti-abortion activists have the right to hand leaflets to women in the driveway of a Clearwater abortion clinic, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday.

In a 2-to-1 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit tossed a trial judge’s decision preventing the Florida Preborn Rescue organization from entering within five feet of the Bread and Roses Women’s Health Center’s driveway. 

Instead, the lower court must pause the Clearwater ordinance preventing the group — and any other pedestrians — from entering the center’s “buffer zone” — a 38-foot stretch of public sidewalk, 28 feet of which cross the clinic’s driveway.

“The Ordinance seriously burdens Florida Preborn’s speech … by restricting the sidewalk counselors’ ability to distribute leaflets to patients as they arrive at the clinic,” the majority opinion reads. 

“The controlling question is whether the challenged buffer zone — be it five, 10, or 35 feet—burdens substantially more speech than necessary to achieve the government’s asserted interests,” it continues. 

“We think it likely that Clearwater’s buffer zone does so.”

Although abortion-related topics have divided the nation for decades, the conversation reached a fever-pitch in 2022 when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. 

This turned abortion regulation over to the states, sparking dramatically different pro-choice or anti-abortion laws from state to state. Since then, states like New Jersey, Colorado, and Kentucky have all seen their “buffer zone” ordinances contested.

What happened?

The case centers on a 2023 city ordinance passed to prevent anti-abortion protesters impeding vehicles’ and patients’ access to the clinic. 

According to the Clearwater Police Department — which backed the ordinance — it received 73 calls in one year from the clinic to handle “continuing and recently escalating confrontation.”

The ordinance banned all pedestrians from crossing within five feet of the clinic’s driveway, exempting emergency services and clinic staff escorting women into the building, as part of a buffer zone.

Florida Preborn Rescue soon after asked a federal district judge for a preliminary injunction, alleging a free-speech violation and noting that its ability to hand out leaflets and have “close, personal conversations” had been dramatically chilled.

U.S. District Judge Mary Scriven denied their request that October. 

Now, as ordered by the appellate court, Scriven will have to dissolve the buffer zone while litigation continues on the underlying merits of the case. 

‘Herculean efforts’

The appellate decision was not unanimous. Judge Nancy Abudu, a joe Biden appointee, disagreed with judges Kevin Newsom and Britt Grant, both appointed by Trump. 

“The First Amendment does not demand that patients at a medical facility undertake Herculean efforts to escape the cacophony of political [messages],” she wrote, citing federal precedent. “The right to be let alone is one of the most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by civilized men.”

Abudu argued that FPR can still speak with patients driving into the clinic because their counselors are just five feet away from the driveway. 

“It is difficult to even visualize how a distance of five feet seriously burdens FPR’s ability to leaflet and otherwise communicate with those entering the clinic,” she added, arguing patients interested in speaking with FPR could always walk over and accept a leaflet.

This conflicts with Newsom and Grant’s reading of the ordinance. 

Because the measure bans all pedestrians except for clinic staff and emergency management, they said, this technically means patients intrigued by FPR’s message wouldn’t be allowed to walk through the buffer zone to accept a leaflet.

Moreover, they argued, that the ordinance is unnecessary and over-burdensome because Florida already has a statute preventing the obstruction of traffic ways.

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Attorney General James Uthmeier on Thursday filed a lawsuit accusing Planned Parenthood of falsely advertising that abortion medication is “safer than Tylenol.”

The lawsuit, filed in Santa Rosa County circuit court, targets claims by Planned Parenthood Federation of America Inc. and affiliates Planned Parenthood Action Fund Inc., Planned Parenthood of Florida Inc. and Planned Parenthood Florida Action Inc.

The 37-page lawsuit focuses in part on statements about the safety of mifepristone and misoprostol, which are used to induce chemical abortions. As an example, Planned Parenthood’s website says that medication abortion is very safe.

“In fact, it’s safer than many other medicines like penicillin, Tylenol, and Viagra. Serious problems are rare, but like all medicines, there can be risks,” the website says.

The lawsuit alleges that Planned Parenthood’s safety claim is “manifestly false” and “badly misleads the women who seek information about the safety and risks of chemical abortion.”

The lawsuit relies in part on research conducted by anti-abortion groups such as the Ethics & Public Policy Center, which bills itself on its website as the “premier institute working to apply the riches of the Jewish and Christian traditions to contemporary questions of law, culture, and politics, in pursuit of America’s continued civic and cultural renewal.”

Uthmeier’s lawsuit asks a judge to find that Planned Parenthood’s “campaign to induce women to purchase abortion drugs by misrepresenting the risks of chemical abortion” violates state law prohibiting deceptive and unfair trade practices and constitutes a pattern of racketeering activity.

The attorney general also is seeking up to $350 million in penalties, or $10,000 each for an estimated 35,000 chemical abortions, and other fines.

In addition, the lawsuit asks the court for “any additional relief,” including the “dissolution or reorganization of any or all of defendants’ enterprises” or the “suspension and revocation” of any state licenses or permits.

Uthmeier was appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis as attorney general in February. As the governor’s chief of staff last year, Uthmeier worked closely with DeSantis to help defeat a 2024 proposed constitutional amendment aimed at expanding abortion rights.

The proposal was launched after the Republican-controlled Legislature and DeSantis approved a ban on abortions after six weeks.

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“Patients in Central Florida—really, in Florida generally—should be reassured that we don’t plan on going anywhere,” Schickler confirmed in a phone call this month. “We’ve been through a lot in Florida, and we’re still here taking care of lots of people, and that’s not going to change.”

Planned Parenthood scored a temporary injunction this month in a federal lawsuit the nonprofit filed against the Trump administration Monday over a provision of Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act that bans Medicaid payments to large health care nonprofits like Planned Parenthood that offer abortion procedures. The temporary block, according to the New York Times, will allow Planned Parenthood’s clinics to continue to receive Medicaid reimbursement for services that do not include abortion care.

Under existing law, Planned Parenthood is already barred from receiving Medicaid payments for abortion in Florida. But Schickler said this block allowed for their Florida clinics to reschedule appointments that their staff had been calling patients to cancel over the weekend, after Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (as it’s officially titled) into law.

President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a major budget reconciliation package approved by the GOP-majority Congress last week, could cause millions of Americans on Medicaid to become uninsured over the next decade, according to estimates from the U.S. Congressional Budget Office, in addition to cutting Medicaid reimbursements for larger abortion care nonprofits like Planned Parenthood.

The provision affecting Medicaid reimbursement specifically affects nonprofits that offer abortion care and generated at least $800,000 in revenue from Medicaid payments in the 2023 fiscal year.

According to Planned Parenthood, more than half of their patients nationwide, including thousands in Florida, are enrolled in Medicaid, a public health insurance plan specifically for low-income families, children and people with disabilities.

The nonprofit warned ahead of the budget bill’s passage that its provisions could lead to the closure of an estimated 200 Planned Parenthood clinics across 24 U.S. states, affecting access to healthcare for more than 1 million patients.

Florida, however, is not one of the states that is expected to see closures, Schickler confirmed. In fact, the nonprofit just today announced a merger between their two affiliates in Florida—Planned Parenthood of South, East and North Florida and Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida—in an effort to expand their service hours and access to care across the state’s 67 counties.

“We know what our patients are up against: relentless state restrictions on care, widespread maternity care deserts, and now a direct attack on access to Planned Parenthood for patients using Medicaid,” said Alexandra Mandado, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Florida, in a prepared statement. “In the face of these challenges, we’re not standing still—we’re moving forward. This merger allows us to meet the moment, meet the needs of our patients, and build something stronger for the future. Every Floridian deserves access to health care—no matter what.”

Planned Parenthood, which operates 17 health centers across Florida, has already been forced to reckon with Florida’s restrictive abortion law, which banned most abortions after six weeks, effective May 1, 2024. Within the first month of the law taking effect, Planned Parenthood said they navigated more than 300 Florida patients to abortion care options outside the U.S. Southeast, where abortion is less restrictive.

But Planned Parenthood isn’t just an abortion clinic. Since abortion care was already ineligible for Medicaid reimbursement in Florida under pre-existing law, it’s the other health services their clinics provide to Floridians—such as birth control, prenatal care and cancer screenings—that they worry could be cut off if the provision of the bill they sued over is allowed to fully take effect.

“Reproductive health clinics would no longer be able to take Medicaid, so patients with Medicaid would no longer be able to see us,” Schickler explained.

Anti-abortion organizations like the religiously affiliated Heartbeat International have praised the budget bill, describing the bill signing last Friday as a “historic moment for the cause of life.”

“This bill is not about restricting care; it’s about restoring true care,” Heartbeat International CEO Jor-El Godsey claimed in an op-ed published by an anti-abortion website. “It takes Big Abortion’s heavy thumb off the scales and puts taxpayer dollars to work in places that supports both mother and child.”

For Godsey, and his anti-abortion comrades in arms, that includes Heartbeat International-supported “crisis pregnancy centers,” which are facilities that often pose as abortion clinics but exist with the explicit goal of convincing pregnant women to not get an abortion. Dozens of these facilities in Florida receive taxpayer funds each year through the state’s “alternatives to abortion” program.

“While Trump slashes funding for evidence-based, regulated health providers, state lawmakers are steering desperate patients toward clinics that pretend to offer care—but lack the training, oversight, and medical staff to handle basic complications, let alone emergencies like ectopic pregnancy,” said Debra Rosen, executive director of the nonprofit Reproductive Health and Freedom Watch (a group that supports abortion rights), in a statement.

“This is not freedom,” she argued, but a “trap” and a “two-tiered system where low-income women lose access to doctors and facilities equipped to care for them and are funneled into ideological storefronts dressed up as health centers.”

Although the temporary block on the provision affecting Planned Parenthood’s Medicaid reimbursement is temporary, Schickler remains optimistic that Planned Parenthood will be able to continue to operate in Florida. Their providers, after all, have already faced challenges from GOP state lawmakers who have historically declined to expand Medicaid insurance to more Floridians in need as it is, and have even moved to make it harder for voters to do so themselves through the ballot box.

“We always find a way to get care to the communities in need, and that, I think is going to only get better with the merger—we’ll be able to reach people that we haven’t reached before,” she said.

According to a news release from her organization, the merger is expected to expand access to Planned Parenthood health services by increasing hours and service days at “several health centers” in Florida and providing more telehealth options for care.

“As government attacks continue to mount, our state and national health care landscape is calling on our organizations to take bold action to address health disparities, improve outcomes, and meet the diverse needs of our communities,” said Barbara Zdravecky, interim CEO at the former Planned Parenthood affiliate covering Central and Southwest Florida, in a statement. “With this merger, our unity will strengthen our ability to face these challenges for decades to come.”

Planned Parenthood has one clinic location each in Orlando, Kissimmee and Lakeland, two facilities in Tampa, and 12 other locations throughout Florida.

This post first appeared at our sibling publication Orlando Weekly.

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The drop came after a law took effect in May 2024 that prevented most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. As of June 3, 2024, a reported 32,081 abortions had been performed last year, state data showed at the time.

Of the 17,377 abortions this year, 17,269 were in the first trimester of pregnancy and 108 were in the second trimester, according to a state Agency for Health Care Administration report.

Of the second-trimester abortions, 70 were performed because of a “fatal fetal abnormality,” while 21 were performed because of what was listed as a “serious fatal genetic defect, deformity or abnormality” and 17 were because of a “life endangering physical condition” of the woman.

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In all, 562 state lawmakers from 50 states and the District of Columbia signed the letter a letter.

The effort was organized by the State Innovation Exchange’s Reproductive Freedom Leadership Council (SiX RFLC) and comes after anti-abortion lawmakers in Congress released a draft budget cutting off Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers from Medicaid funds.

Reps. LaVon Bracy Davis, Kevin Chambliss, Anna Eskamani, Rita Harris, Dianne Hart, and Felicia Robinson signed the letter. So did Sens. Shevrin Jones, Tina Polsky, and Darryl Rouson.

According to Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) one in three women have been to a Planned Parenthood health center for care, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. In Florida, almost 100,000 patients relied on Planned Parenthood health centers for care last year – from birth control and cancer screenings, to STI treatment and wellness visits.
“Planned Parenthood is an irreplaceable part of our health care system in Florida,” Laura Goodhue, executive director of the Florida Alliance of Planned Parenthood Affiliates, said in a prepared release.

“These lawmakers understand that ‘defunding’ Planned Parenthood would shut down health centers and leave patients across our state without access to essential and affordable health care. We are proud to work alongside them to continue fighting relentlessly for access to affordable reproductive health care for all Floridians.

“We’ve expanded our service line. I think it’s important for the community to know we do much more than abortion care. We do vasectomies, we do prenatal care, we do fertility care. We do menopausal care. It’s not just abortions and STDs (sexually transmitted diseases).

“But I think the community is learning that. There’s a large need for Planned Parenthood,” Cherise Felix, chief medical officer of Planned Parenthood of South, East, and North Florida told the Florida Phoenix.

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.

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A bunch of “superstars”—that is people who support the work of Tampa Bay Abortion Fund (TBAF)—were out in Tampa Heights last Friday as the organization hosted a fundraiser party and market at Shuffle.

The get together came on the heels of the one-year anniversary of Florida’s six-week ban on abortion. Bree Wallace, TBAF’s case management director recently detailed how money collected by the organization gets utilized.

“You essentially get to help someone through a difficult time, not even abortion-wise, but just a physical time, learning new things and just having to go through the terrible laws that are put into place right now in Florida,” she told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay ahead of TBAF’s “Night Under the Superstars” party.

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A three-judge panel of the 5th District Court of Appeal, backing arguments by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, said the law violates parents’ due-process rights. The ruling came as the appeals court rejected a request by a 17-year-old girl to have an abortion without parental consent.

“It’s difficult to see how the (U.S. Constitution) Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause can countenance a process whose entire function is to deprive presumptively fit parents of the most basic due-process guarantees — notice and opportunity to be heard — on the question whether they must forfeit an important parental right that the state and federal constitutions secure to them,” said the appeals-court opinion, written by Judge Jordan Pratt and joined by Judges Brian Lambert and John MacIver.

The law sets up a process for minors to seek court approval to have abortions without consent from their parents. Judges can grant such parental-consent “waivers” if they find a minor is “sufficiently mature to decide whether to terminate her pregnancy” or find by “clear and convincing evidence” that the consent requirements “are not in the best interest” of the minor.

While Florida has had parental-notification or parental-consent requirements since 2004, the appeals court cited the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in 2022 that overturned Roe v. Wade and a Florida Supreme Court decision in 2024 that said abortion rights were not protected by a privacy right in the state Constitution.

“Whatever asserted constitutional abortion rights may have justified Florida’s judicial-waiver regime in the past unequivocally have been repudiated by both the U.S. Supreme Court and the Florida Supreme Court,” Pratt wrote.

The appeals court said it expected the Florida Supreme Court to review the issue but also took a step known as certifying a question of “great public importance” to the Supreme Court.

The opinion was the latest in a series of legal and legislative decisions that have restricted abortion in Florida. In addition to the 2024 Florida Supreme Court decision, a state law took effect last year that prevents most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.

The notice-and-consent issue has long been controversial, with supporters of the requirements saying minors are not mature enough to make abortion decisions. But opponents have argued, for example, that some minors could face issues such as abuse if their parents found out they were pregnant.

Waiver cases reaching appeals courts are relatively rare. In Wednesday’s case, the 17-year-old appealed after Clay County Circuit Judge Angela Cox rejected the request for a waiver.

While most details of such cases are kept confidential, the appeals court said the minor filed a petition in circuit court on May 6, and the judge held a hearing the following day. Cox ruled that the minor was not sufficiently mature to receive a waiver.

The minor’s attorney appealed, triggering a seven-day window for the appeals court to rule. Wednesday’s opinion said the minor also was nearing the end of the six-week pregnancy timeframe to obtain abortions in Florida.

Uthmeier intervened in the case and argued that “Florida’s process for maturity and best-interest judicial waivers conflicts with the constitutional rights of pregnant minors’ parents,” Pratt wrote in the opinion.

“In addition, the attorney general points to a rich common-law tradition of empowering parents to order their children’s affairs, even over their children’s objections, and argues that this rich historical tradition informs proper interpretation of the parental rights that (part of the Florida Constitution) secures,” the opinion said. “Indeed, the Florida Supreme Court has made clear that our state Constitution offers more protection for parental rights than does the federal Constitution.”

Another part of the waiver law allows minors to have abortions without parental consent if a court “finds, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the petitioner is the victim of child abuse or sexual abuse inflicted by one or both of her parents or her guardian.” Wednesday’s opinion did not appear to affect that part of the law.

Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Pratt and MacIver to the Daytona Beach-based appeals court, while Lambert was appointed by former Gov. Rick Scott.

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Tampa Bay Abortion Fund needs all the help it can get, case management director Bree Wallace told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay. Shuffle Tampa is hoping to raise $50,000 for the fund next week with “A Night Under the Superstars.”

“You essentially get to help someone through a difficult time, not even abortion-wise, but just a physical time, learning new things and just having to go through the terrible laws that are put into place right now in Florida,” Wallace said.

$50,000 may sound like a lot, but even with a match from the National Network of Abortion Funds it’ll only provide care for about a couple months.

Last month, the fund helped 250 people get procedures. That’s $500-$2,000 per patient.

The abortion itself costs $700-$800 in Tampa, in the case that a person knows they’re pregnant before six weeks. 

In the more likely case that they need to go out of state, the fund assists with flights and other transportation, childcare, lodging and meals. In April, TABF provided more than $12,000 in practical support.

For many, getting an abortion is their first time traveling out of state.

“No one should have to leave their state to get health care,” Wallace said. “They’re already making the decision to get an abortion. Now they also have to go through this scary new thing of traveling for it.”

To combat the despair, the fundraiser on Friday, May 16 is a celebration focused on raising awareness and celebrating the ability to help fellow citizens. Attendees (18-and up) are encouraged to come dressed as their favorite pop star (Stevie Nicks, Halsey, Phoebe Bridgers and more have been vocal about their abortions) for a night of dancing, drag performances and raffles. Free Plan B and condoms will be available.

“It’s important just for the community to recognize resources and share them with one another, and keep the information out there,” Wallace said.

There is a $5 minimum suggested entry for Tampa Bay Abortion Fund’s ‘A Night Under the Superstars’ fundraising party happening Friday, May 16 at 7 p.m. in Tampa.
Readers are invited to submit their own events to Creative Loafing Tampa Bay’s things to do calendar.

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Still, the six-week ban led to a sharp decline in the number of abortions. By the state’s count, there were 19,198 fewer abortions in 2024 than in 2023. Another estimate from the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive health policy and research organization tracking medication abortions from pills shipped through the mail, places the decrease in abortions at 12,100.

As of March 31, the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration reported 8,682 abortions.

In interviews with the Florida Phoenix, representatives of Planned Parenthood this week stressed that its clinics are still providing people with access to health care services that run the gamut.

“We’re still here. We’re still going to be here. Planned Parenthood has always been around. I cannot imagine it not being around,” said Dr. Cherise Felix, chief medical officer of Planned Parenthood of South, East, and North Florida.

“We’ve expanded our service line. I think it’s important for the community to know we do much more than abortion care. We do vasectomies, we do prenatal care, we do fertility care. We do menopausal care. It’s not just abortions and STDs (sexually transmitted diseases). But I think the community is learning that. There’s a large need for Planned Parenthood.”

Contraception and reproductive health changes

The law bans abortions after six weeks’ gestation, before many people know they’re pregnant. There are exceptions for people who get pregnant as a result of rape, incest, or human trafficking. They can obtain abortions up to 15 weeks, but they must show a restraining order, police report, medical record, or court document showing that a crime is the reason they want to terminate the pregnancy.

Other exceptions to the state’s six-week ban require two doctors to certify that the termination of the pregnancy is necessary to “save the pregnant woman’s life or avert a serious risk of substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman.”

A single physician can approve the procedure if no other doctor is available. Abortions in the third trimester are legal if the fetus has a fatal abnormality. A proposed constitutional amendment to allow abortions up to the point of viability was approved by a majority of voters but didn’t receive the necessary 60% approval to pass.

In the year since the restrictive six-week ban took effect, Felix said, more of her patients are requesting longer-acting reversible contraception (LARC) implants.

And some patients are asking for more permanent birth control, she said.

“Something I didn’t expect is to see an increase in vasectomy patients — men that are seeking vasectomies because it’s not safe anymore to not have really good contraception on board. And sometimes things fail, birth control pills fail, birth control sometimes fail,” she said. “So we see a lot of men who are there who aren’t really willing to leave it up to chance anymore and so they are starting to be a lot more involved in contraception as well.”

Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida Chief Medical Officer Dr. Robyn Schickler says that since the six-week ban she’s seen an uptick in patients with miscarriages diagnosed by other physicians who refer them to a Planned Parenthood center because “they don’t know if they can take care of them” under Florida law.

The clinic is seeing patients seeking exceptions to the six-week ban either because they were raped or are having maternal health complications or their fetus has a fetal abnormality, Schickler said.

Florida law defines a fatal fetal abnormality as a terminal condition that, in reasonable medical judgment, regardless of the provision of life-saving medical treatment, is incompatible with life outside the womb and will result in death upon birth or imminently thereafter. Two physicians must certify in writing that there is a fatal fetal abnormality in order to qualify for an exception to the six-week ban.

The definition is narrow and leaves pregnant people in a tough situation. Schickler said that it locks out some women with fetuses with genetic or chromosomal abnormalities.

“When it doesn’t qualify, it’s something really bad but, medically speaking, you can’t give a definitive, ‘Yes, of course the fetus will die, you know, in the uterus or right after birth.’ There’s some things you can’t, you can’t say for sure. And so it doesn’t fit that narrow exception,” Schickler said.

Navigating abortion travel

“I would say the most common is they just start crying like they can’t believe it. Devastation,” Schickler said, describing their reactions. “Sometimes we’ll get someone, you know, asking if you can make an exception and just do this one, which of course we can’t legally. Most of the time, though, it’s just really sad like, you know, immediate crying, complete devastation.”

Planned Parenthood affiliates across Florida refer patients to their patient navigation program, which identifies clinics in states where they can still obtain an abortion. Statewide, more than 3,000 Florida patients have used the system in the last year, according to Planned Parenthood.

Additional groups in Florida provide money for abortions in and out of the state, which entails paying for flights, hotels, and rideshares. This year alone, the Tampa Bay Abortion Fund has helped around 1,100 people end pregnancies, said Bree Wallace, the organization’s director for case management. Most of the people the fund helps end up obtaining appointments in D.C. and Illinois.

“Now, people can go within a few days sometimes, so it’s definitely more expensive,” Wallace said. “Flights alone have been, like, $600 to $800, usually, and if someone wants to bring someone with them, that doubles.”

TBAF’s logistical support to help people get to their appointments added up to $91,000 last year, according to its impact report.

“It’s definitely been more expensive. I mean, every case is different, but you could definitely spend almost $2,000 alone on travel for someone going out of state,” Wallace said.

Aside from the six-week ban, there are other restrictions in Florida’s abortion laws. Only doctors are authorized to provide abortions and telehealth is banned, which means physicians must be in the room when women are administered abortion medication.

Florida has a 24-hour waiting period and a requirement that patients undergo a sonogram exam before obtaining an abortion. Minors must notify their parents and secure their approval but a judge can waive those requirements.

The Tampa fund helps minors connect with The Jane Network, which provides free legal services to get a judicial bypass.

Out of 130 petitions minors filed for a court’s approval to seek an abortion last year, judges approved 123. Amanda Greenfield, founder and executive director of The Jane Network, said minors seek judicial bypass because their parents are abusive or they may be estranged and not living at home.

“Often a young person will reach out to us and, by the very next day, they will have an attorney and be able to go to court, and, hopefully, get that judicial bypass granted,” Greenfield said.

Since the six-week ban, minors have been contacting the pro bono group before they know they’re pregnant, Greenfield said.

“We are seeing a lot of fear with young people. Young people contact us all the time, even before they know they’re pregnant, because they think there’s a chance that they’re pregnant,” she said. “If so, they wanna make sure they will be able to meet all the requirements before six weeks.”

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.

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Under the bill, HB 1517, parents could claim damages for mental pain and loss of support from the fetus at any stage of development, meaning jurors could determine the salary the fetus could have earned over its life as part of the money parents could be entitled to in wrongful-death suits. It cleared the chamber along party lines. Robin Bartleman via Florida House

The proposal clarifies that suits couldn’t be brought against mothers or medical providers abiding by the standard of care, but some Democratic lawmakers raised concerns about abortion and IVF access and pregnant people trying to escape abusive relationships.

Weston Democratic Rep. Robin Bartleman said the bill angered her.

“Everyone can get sued now because of this bill. This is not about justice, it’s about cruelty,” she said, pointing out that the bill doesn’t provide protections for IVF clinics and hospitals.

However, Democrats’ attempts to allow only the pregnant person to bring suits and to shield people helping someone secure an abortion from the wrongful death suits failed.

“This is about establishing that life begins at conception, so let’s clear the air, and let’s just say the thing that’s what it’s about, because if it wasn’t, there wouldn’t have been so much avoiding the questions or the answers to direct questions,” Miami Democratic Rep. Ashley Gantt said.

Not about abortion?

“This is about a loss that that is is so hard to understand and so hard to believe that money or anything is never going to make one whole,” Greco said. “But when a terrible tragedy like the loss, the wrongful loss, of an unborn child occurs because of wrongfulness, because of a wrongful act, mothers, parents, should have the ability to seek to be made whole in those circumstances.”

The Senate companion, which Vero Beach Republican Sen. Erin Grall is sponsoring, is up for its second of three committee hearings Thursday. But other Republicans’ support for the bill is faltering, with former Senate President Kathleen Passidomo also expressing hesitancy about opening medical providers up to lawsuits over the death of a fetus, even at one month of gestation.

“We’re losing OBGYNs. Who’s gonna wanna come to Florida?” Passidomo said during the April 1 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing of SB 1284. Passidomo, who also criticized the proposal last year, is chair of the Rules Committee, which Grall’s proposal must go through before reaching the Senate floor.

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.

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