Oppose the Florida Fetal Wrongful Death Bill

Recent bills to broaden the language for the “wrongful death of an unborn child” have now passed in committee in both chambers of the Florida Legislature. These bills, H.B. 289 and S.B. 164, would allow parents of aborted fetuses to sue healthcare providers or one another for a wrongful death if a pregnancy is terminated outside of Florida’s regressive six-week abortion ban​​​​.

These bills follow several other recent steps taken to restrict reproductive rights in Florida, and both critics and proponents of these bills recognize that they could be the beginning of further anti-choice legislation. Attacks on reproductive rights have driven up the maternal mortality rate, and H.B. 289 and S.B. 164 would only continue to strip away the dignity and humanity from those who might become pregnant. The broad language of H.B. 289 would allow “any person who impregnates someone else — including an abusive ex-partner or rapist — to bring harassing litigation against individuals, doctors, hospitals, private businesses, and governmental entities for a loss of pregnancy from the moment of fertilization, by simply alleging that they were at fault”. Additionally, this legislation would create further liability for healthcare providers, particularly OB/GYNs, continuing to intimidate and deter them from conducting certain reproductive care.

Final floor votes on H.B. 289 and S.B. 164 are expected in early January. Demand that your representatives vocally oppose these bills and vote against any attacks on our reproductive freedoms.