A bill changing Florida’s wrongful death statues would allow parents to collect damages for the death of a fetus. (Photo by Getty Images)
Republicans in a House committee Thursday advanced a bill that permits parents to claim damages in the wrongful death of a fetus at any stage of development.
HB 1517 passed its first hearing in the House Civil Justice and Claims Subcommittee along party lines, with Democrats raising concerns about what the passage of the bill would mean for Florida’s abortion landscape. A similar proposal drew criticism last year from reproductive rights advocates, who said the bill would establish fetal personhood.
Both the House bill and Senate companion, SB 1284, define an unborn child as a “member of the species Homo sapiens, at any stage of development, who is carried in the womb,” which St. Petersburg Democratic Rep. Michele Rayner said would grant fetuses the same rights as any person.
“For me, it feels like this is another attempt to lay the foundation for a complete abortion ban. I’m not saying that this bill is a complete abortion ban. I want to be very, very clear,” Rayner said.
Florida bans most abortions after six weeks’ gestation, but there are exceptions to save the life of the mother, fatal fetal abnormalities, and in cases of rape, incest, and human trafficking.
The pregnant person wouldn’t be the target of litigation under either proposal, and the House version also adds that protection for medical providers who provide “care related to assisted reproductive technologies,” such as in vitro fertilization.
St. Augustine Republican Rep. Sam Greco said during the committee that his bill doesn’t put doctors providing legal abortions at risk. Sweetwater Republican Rep. David Borrero said he supported the proposal precisely because it gives a fetus the same rights as people after they are born.
“I firmly believe an unborn child is a person if it has its own separate DNA, it’s growing, it’s capable of feeling pain, it is considered a person,” Borrero said.
Still, some opponents said it would enable abusive partners to harass victims of domestic or intimate partner violence.
“[The bill] would allow domestic violence abusers to sue their victims’ friends and family who helped them receive proper health care and an abortion,” said Ash Bradley, speaking on behalf of reproductive rights group Voices of Florida. “This would put survivors like me in imminent danger.”
Senate proposal got dropped last year
Vero Beach Republican Sen. Erin Grall is still the sponsor in the upper chamber. She withdrew her proposal toward the end of the legislative session last year, but she hinted that she would refile the bill.
“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. The Senate version has not been heard yet but it doesn’t have any substantial changes from last year’s bill.
Sixteen other states allow parents to collect damages for mental pain and suffering from the death of a fetus at any stage of development caused by negligence, according to a legislative analysis of the bill. Florida is one of six states that doesn’t allow for such suits, while others permit the collection of damages for wrongful fetus deaths if the fetus could survive outside the womb.