A Florida bill that would allow parents to file wrongful death lawsuits in cases involving fetuses is little more than an effort to punish abortion providers, according to some of the state’s leading abortion-rights advocates.
House Bill 651 would create a civil liability for the death of a fetus and revise the state’s definition of “survivors” to include “parents of an unborn child.”
Lauren Book
“The GOP-controlled Florida Legislature is pushing a thinly veiled attempt to allow men to sue women and doctors in cases of wanted and needed abortion care. It’s dangerous, wrong, and yet another instance of state overreach to control women and take away their rights and freedoms,” said State Sen. Lauren Book.
Laura Goodhue, executive director of Florida Planned Parenthood, said the legislation is anti-abortion in everything but name: “The opposition will stop at nothing to make it more difficult for people to attain abortion care when they need it, and this is just another trick up their sleeves.”
Sen. Erin Grall and Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulicka, the Republican co-sponsors of the bill, have denied abortion is the real target of the legislation. But there are too many indications to the contrary, Goodhue said.
Among them is the bill’s omission of an exemption for abortion providers like that included in Florida’s criminal statutes involving fetal deaths. Efforts to amend the legislation to add that language have been rejected by Republicans while abortion-rights opponents hailed the measure during a recent legislative hearing.
Jenna Persons-Mulicka
Erin Grall
Previous bills co-sponsored by Grall and Persons-Mulicka must also be considered, she said. Among them is the six-week abortion ban currently before the Florida Supreme Court.
“All they have to do is make an exception for termination of a pregnancy, but they won’t do that. It’s very clear that these sponsors want to make it harder for women to get the care they need. … This is clearly an attempt, especially with the term ‘unborn child,’ to establish a pathway to personhood for the unborn,” she added.
The bill could well have numerous and unintended consequences, Goodhue said. “In some cases, you could have an abusive husband, ex-husband, boyfriend or even a rapist being able to recover damages for the termination of a pregnancy. Imagine a woman having to go through all of that.”
Laura Goodhue
Goodhue cited a 2023 Texas case in which a man sued three of his ex-wife’s friends for wrongful death after they obtained abortion medication for her in violation of state law. The ex-wife was exempt from litigation under a law prohibiting assisting a mother in a self-managed abortion.
The vaguely worded legislation pending in Florida would “open a floodgate” of disturbing scenarios including lawsuits over miscarriages caused during accidents, she said.
If an expectant mother slips and falls in a grocery store, would the grocery store be held liable for a miscarriage? What happens if a woman gets ill while having her hair dyed at a salon? Can the salon be sued for wrongful death? “There are a million ways to look at this, and abortion is just one piece,” she said.
The House version of the bill is in the committee stage while a hearing has yet to be held in the Senate.