Florida Doctors Fear Results Of Amended Rules to Abortion Ban

New emergency rules around abortion bans in Florida are leaving physicians and patients alike scratching their heads!

Practicing doctors in the state fear that new exceptions to bans put in place to prevent women from terminating their pregnancies are causing more confusion than helping the chaotic situation. Dr. Rachel Humphrey faces a harsh reality: she could serve time in prison simply for caring for a patient.

“I’ve got to be careful because I’m taking care of moms that have life-threatening conditions,” said Humphrey. “I’ve got to make sure that I do not run afoul of this law.”

In May, a new law in Florida banned most abortions after six weeks. It includes an exception that allows the procedure later in pregnancy if it is needed “to save a major bodily function” or the life of the pregnant person. Any doctor participating in an abortion outside of what is allowed by law could face felony criminal charges.

Doctors say the law isn’t straightforward and has steep penalties, which, according to Humphrey, creates a “chilling effect.”

“Which, unfortunately, means that physicians are choosing to keep themselves safe over helping moms,” she said.

Furthermore, Humphrey notes that while the exemption to protect a pregnant person’s life seems to make sense at a surface level, it has left doctors tasked with having a “superhuman ability to predict outcomes that we don’t necessarily have that ability to predict.”

In response to concerns and to clear up confusion, the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration issued a temporary set of emergency rules listing three conditions that would put a pregnant person’s life at risk: “premature rupture of membranes, ectopic pregnancy, and molar pregnancy.”

According to the rules, termination of a pregnancy for those conditions is not considered an abortion. However, doctors still have questions about the procedure and fear what it could mean for them practicing in the future.

“Here we are with layer upon layer of rules and layer upon layer of government intervention, which is not resulting in better clarity or better care,” said Humphrey.

In a 2023 study conducted by the Charlotte Lozier Institute, a total of 91% of Florida abortions were performed on state residents. The remaining 9% were conducted on out-of-state residents, including 4% being women from Georgia and 2% on women from Alabama. Additionally, 40% of the state’s medical procedures were operated on white women, while the rate of Black women who carried out an abortion in the state sat at 36%,

People against abortion have accused politicians like Vice President Kamala Harris of using the subject as a political talking point leading up to the November 2024 election.

“Since Roe was overturned, I have met women who were refused care during a miscarriage,” said Harris during a speaking engagement in Jacksonville as Florida’s six-week abortion ban took effect in early May. “I met a woman who was turned away from an emergency room, and it was only when she developed sepsis that she received care.”

Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America’s Kelsey Pritchard agrees with the political weight the abortion concerns hold.

“I wish we could all just come to the agreement that it is not okay to put women’s lives in danger for political reasons,” said Pritchard.

“It’s pretty clear when you listen to any Democrat talk about the issue of abortion why it’s needed,” Pritchard says. “Unfortunately, it’s because they’ve been relying on this false talking point that women will die if you don’t vote the way they want you to vote—or if you put in place a heartbeat law.”

The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration declined a request for an interview on the matter. Still, in a post shared on social media, Secretary Jason Weida explained that clarity around the emergency rules to the current abortion ban in place was necessary because abortion access advocates are “lying for political gain.”

Currently, the U.S. Supreme Court is hearing litigation around questions about how the laws are protecting the lives and health of pregnant people. President Biden’s administration also argues that a “federal law that requires doctors to stabilize patients applies to abortion, even when the procedure is banned by state law.”

Republican-led states like Idaho have begun pushing back, but ultimately, the vote will fall into the hands of millions of voters who will weigh in on access to abortion during the November election. The proposed amendment requires approval from 60% of voters to pass, yet the burning question remains – why are people who have never had and will never be able to have an abortion allowed to tell women what to do with their bodies?