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Florida says abortions allowed at 'any stage in pregnancy' to save life, health of mother (www.tallahassee.com)

submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

21 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Florida's two state health agencies clarified for doctors on Thursday morning that an abortion is allowed at "any stage in pregnancy" to save the life and health of the mother, according to a press release.

"Providers are reminded that Florida requires life-saving medical care to a mother without delay when necessary, and the Florida Department of Health and the Agency for Health Care Administration will take regulatory action when a provider fails to follow this standard of care," the press release says in bold text.

The release, aimed to dispel what the state called "misinformation" about abortion in Florida, also says "miscarriage is not an abortion" in bold text and warns health care facilities and providers that a failure to provide life-saving treatment for pregnant women may constitute malpractice.

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[–] [email protected] 90 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Florida is going to prosecute their own healthcare workers, regardless of what the law actually says or means. What is "to save the life of the mother", to avoid any injury or only when the mother-to-be is days, hours, minutes from dying? The whole point is to confuse and scare doctors into not providing the necessary care that women need.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Someome really needs to abort an ectopic pregnancy very early on and fight it all the way to the supreme court.

Everyone says it's okay with releases like this, yet everyone is threatened about being charged for doing it due to vagueness and not being a risk until it's almost too late.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago

Hey, we vote on it this year. Here's hoping!

[–] [email protected] 79 points 2 months ago (4 children)

This is the best thing I’ve read about Florida in a long time.

[–] [email protected] 67 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

It is great, but does the Attorney General care what the health agencies say?

The chilling effect from the abortion bans also comes from contradictory regulations, rules, and guidance with medical professionals trying to error on the side of not being prosecuted because the AG wants to drag them to court over whether the mother's life was in danger.

In Thursday's press release, the agencies mention "fatal fetal abnormality" as an exception to the abortion law along with rape, incest and human trafficking. The press release later explains the exceptions for rape, incest and human trafficking have a cut off for 15 weeks, but the agencies do not say whether that applies to "fatal fetal abnormality."

[–] NuXCOM_90Percent 36 points 2 months ago (1 children)

That is the problem.

The department of health can say whatever they want. The risk there is that a doctor's license might be suspended or, more likely, they get a slap on the wrist.

The legal system will put a felony (looks like third degree) on the doctor and potentially throw them in prison for five years.

Theoretically, doctors care more about saving lives and will risk anything. In reality? Doctors (and all medical professionals) have been tortured for years because of all the anti-medicine shit that comes out of the fascists and is more likely to say "Fuck it, take my license. I am gonna go deliver pizzas in a blue state rather than deal with one more minute of this shit"

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago

Hard to save lived from jail or without a license to practice, so they are still choosing to save lives in general when they make the decision not to save specific patients.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago (1 children)

the agencies mention “fatal fetal abnormality” as an exception to the abortion law along with rape, incest and human trafficking.

I wonder if a woman simply stating she was raped is enough to get the abortion. Kind of like how there are 14 approved reasons for Americans to travel to Cuba, so travelers simply have to pick one and they can go.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Proof is required for rape exceptions in Florida's proposed abortion law

Also limited to 15 weeks, which is way too short for forcing a decision in normal circumstances, much less from surviving a traumatic event and not necessarily knowing that one is pregnant yet.

Edit: Found a better article

Survivors of rape, incest or human trafficking can access abortions until 15 weeks of pregnancy under the new law. But it mandates they provide a copy of a restraining order, police report, medical record or other documentation to their appointment, and providers may be obligated to report the crime in some cases.

Many survivors don't feel safe or comfortable reporting assaults, noted Stephanie Loraine Piñeiro, executive director of the abortion fund Florida Access Network. She called the requirements "unrealistic" and "incredibly cruel."

As with the previous 15-week ban, there are exceptions to save the pregnant person's life or avert "substantial and irreversible" bodily harm. But some pregnant women reported they were denied necessary care during miscarriages and other complications due to doctors' hesitancy about interpreting similar laws.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago

Jeez. All the women in abusive relationships being forced to have children 😰

[–] TowardsTheFuture 6 points 2 months ago

This was 100% done to try and combat the abortion measure on the ballot. Like their government website that gives false information on the ballot measure.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

Sadly this is just damage control ahead of an election. What they say and what they do don't match up. Within the next year, guaranteed that a healthcare worker is going to get prosecuted by the state for even suggesting to a pregnant woman an abortion would save her life, much less make moves to enable such an action.

If they gave the damn about the lives and long term health of mothers they wouldn't have worked so hard to restrict abortion access and demonize anyone willing to say that not every pregnancy is safe to carry to term.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

One would think that. But the test of the state prosecutorial agencies will fight this tooth and nail.

[–] [email protected] 40 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Unfortunately, as we have seen in other states (and possibly also Florida), hospitals are willing to let women die rather than take the legal risk even when the law says that the life or health of the mother is at risk. And now all they're doing here is putting those facilities between a rock and a hard place. Either they perform the abortion and risk breaking the law or they don't perform the abortion and risk malpractice. I'm guessing they'll probably err on the side of malpractice.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago

That’s what insurance is for. - the executive at the hospital

[–] [email protected] 23 points 2 months ago

If the mother lives, she wasn't truely in danger, doctors go straight to prison. If the mother dies, she was in danger and they failed to act, doctors go straight to prison.

Should work swimmingly.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 months ago

I wager that DeSantis ordered this to make republicans looks better in the face of all the horror stories about women being left, mid miscarriage, with fetuses rotting inside of them, until they are on deaths door where the law would finally let it be removed without the doctors being arrested.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 months ago

Who decides that the woman's life is at-risk enough to qualify as necessary? A panel of priests? The election police? A healthcare provider? The person whose life is on the line?

This seems to be the state health agencies clarifying the current rules. Not ideal, but hopefully only temporary until this law becomes unconstitutional.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 months ago

Such bullsh*t.

“Dear Doctors… You should perform abortions when it’s medically necessary… oh and if we don’t agree it was medically necessary (yet) you lose your license and possibly face criminal charges. - Sincerely Florida”

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago

Don't worry, Governor DeathSantis is on the case

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago

Someone asked me once if I had the option to save one life or the other, which would I choose? It wasn't about abortion, but more like diverting the train. I said, "The moment I decide who to save is also the moment I decide who dies. There will either be an action or inaction, but that decision is what makes me a murderer. People may tell me it's not true because I only did it to save a life, but one life was already about to be lost, and I didn't change the outcome. If someone walks into traffic and you decide to risk your life and push them to safety, you are putting yourself at risk where there was no risk before and therefore potentially trading your life for another. You could both die, but you could both live, and that's the difference. If someone is trying to kill you, but you kill them, you prevented a decided action to kill, and therefore, it wasn''t your decision."

The decision should be made between the mother and the doctor.