State warns of penalties against providers not applying abortion ban exceptions

Photo by iStock / Getty Images PlusFlorida’s health agencies will take regulatory action against health care providers who don’t give life-saving medical care to mothers without delay as defined in the state’s abortion law, according to alerts sent on Thursday.

The warnings to providers from the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration and Florida Department of Health came two days after a report from Physicians for Human Rights concluded that the state’s six-week abortion ban created an “unworkable legal landscape.” Following publication of that report, other physicians shared their struggles navigating the ban’s exceptions.

In the alerts, the agencies insist that the law is clear and allows abortions at any point to save the life and health of the mother and when the fetus suffers a fatal abnormality. It outlines other exceptions to the six-week abortion ban, including allowing abortions up to 15 weeks’ gestation in cases of rape, incest, or human trafficking, although patients have to provide police reports, restraining orders, or documents showing they’ve reported the crime.

Jason Weida, Secretary of the Agency for Health Care Administration. (Screenshot from Florida Channel)

“Health care facilities and providers must be aware that a physician providing life-saving treatment for pregnant women does not violate Florida law and that failure to do so may constitute malpractice,” the alert from AHCA states.

The alert continues: “Providers are reminded that Florida requires life-saving medical care to a mother without delay when necessary, and the Agency for Health Care Administration and the Florida Department of Health will take regulatory action when a provider fails to follow this standard of care.”

Fear of criminal charges

Someone who performs an illegal abortion faces a third a third-degree felony charge punishable with up to five years in prison, a $5,000 fine, and loss of their medical license. The potential life-ruining infraction has caused fear among health care providers treating pregnant people, according to interviews in the PHR report from 25 Florida physicians, OB-GYNs, and clinicians.

During a press conference held by Wednesday Floridians Protecting Freedom, the sponsor of the abortion-rights amendment that will be on the ballot in November, four physicians said the abortion ban’s exceptions are vague and hard to apply to real-life cases.

Laura Goodhue, executive director of the Florida Alliance of Planned Parenthood Affiliates, told Florida Phoenix Thursday that the alert was disheartening but that she wasn’t surprised by it.

“Doctors are afraid of very steep penalties. This comes with, like, felony charges, and I don’t think that doctors should be threatened with being put in jail just because they’re treating the patient in front of them,” she told the Phoenix in a phone interview.

“And then, you know, they receive an email to every single provider in the state that almost seems even more threatening. It’s like they’re damned if they do and they’re damned if they don’t provide care.”

AHCA received backlash recently over its publication on Sept. 5 of a webpage claiming that Amendment 4, which would protect access to abortion until viability, “threatens women’s safety.” The webpage and other TV and radio announcements prompted legal and criminal complaints.