Florida Lawmakers Pump the Brakes on 'Unborn Child' Bill After Alabama IVF Decision

Source: Daily Beast

Florida Lawmakers Pump the Brakes on ‘Unborn Child’ Bill After Alabama IVF Decision

The bill, which would allow a claimant to sue over an unborn child’s wrongful death, was yanked after critics pointed out that its language was dangerously broad.

AJ McDougall
Breaking News Reporter
Published Feb. 27, 2024 7:05PM EST

Republican legislators have mothballed a bill that would allow Floridians to sue over the wrongful death of a fetus in the wake of an Alabama Supreme Court ruling that frozen embryos should be considered children, causing several clinics in the state to halt in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment.

The bill’s sponsor, state Sen. Erin Grall, requested a vote scheduled to be held Monday in the Florida Senate Rules Committee be postponed. In an emailed statement to the Tampa Bay Times, she explained, “Although I have worked diligently to respond to questions and concerns, I understand there is still work that needs to be done. It is important we get the policy right with an issue of this significance.”

When the bill, SB 476, was announced, opponents were quick to slam it as a step toward “fetal personhood,” a concept that puts pregnant women, abortion providers, and advocates for reproductive rights at legal risk.

“As the bill is currently written, nothing is preventing an abusive partner or rapist from bringing a lawsuit for damages against a healthcare provider or friends and family members of the individual who had an abortion,” Kara Gross, legislative director and senior policy counsel of the ACLU of Florida, said in a statement earlier this month.

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Read more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/florida-lawmakers-pump-the-brakes-on-unborn-child-bill-after-alabama-ivf-decision