Bill allows lawsuits for death of ‘unborn child’
House sponsor Persons-Mulicka faces pushback after she denies that proposal targets abortion
TALLAHASSEE — Less than a year after passing a measure that would ban abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, Republican lawmakers are pursuing an effort to allow parents to file civil lawsuits seeking damages for the wrongful death of an “unborn child.”
The legislation, filed by the House and Senate sponsors of the six-week abortion ban, has drawn intense pushback from abortion providers and their allies.
The proposal, approved Thursday by the House Civil Justice Subcommittee, would add “unborn child” to a law that allows family members to seek damages when a person’s death is caused by such things as wrongful acts or negligence.
House sponsor Jenna Persons-Mulicka, R-Fort Myers, told the House panel that her bill (HB 651) is not abortion-related. She said it is aimed at giving parents the ability “to go to court to seek redress against the wrongdoer” when an unborn child dies.
“So this is not about abortion, and I’m trying very hard not to take offense that people are trying to make it about abortion,” Persons-Mulicka said. “Let’s call a spade a spade. They’re not talking about lawful abortion. In a lawful abortion, what is the wrongful act that would be caught under this statute? They’re worried about illegal abortions.”
But Rep. Ashley Gantt, D-Miami, appeared unconvinced and pointed to the possibility of men filing lawsuits over abortions.
“While the bill sponsor said it isn’t about abortion, I do hope to work with you to make that very clear and to actually codify it, if this does become a law,” Gantt said before voting against the measure, “so we don’t have advocacy groups seeking out potential fathers suing different abortion care providers because that’s also very much a real possibility.”
Gantt offered an amendment that would have exempted abortions from the proposed changes to the wrongful-death law. An attorney, Gantt said her amendment mirrored an exclusion for termination of pregnancies in a law that makes it a crime to kill an unborn child by killing or injuring a pregnant woman. The House panel rejected Gantt’s amendment.
Under the bill, mothers could not be sued.
Florida is among just a handful of states that do not have laws on the books allowing such wrongful-death claims, Persons-Mulicka said.
“This just gives a parent an opportunity to go to court to make a wrong right. The parent would then have to prove that there was a wrongful act, whether intentional or negligent,” said Persons-Mulicka, a lawyer.
But Gantt raised questions about “vagueness,” saying the measure does not define “unborn child,” unlike some other states’ laws that allow parents to seek damages only after a certain period of gestation.
Laura Goodhue, executive director of the Florida Alliance of Planned Parenthood Affiliates, said ensuring abortions are not included in the wrongful-death changes would be “an easy fix” by adopting Gantt’s amendment.
“We’ve now heard from both of the bill sponsors that this isn’t about abortion, however, two things happened. One, they didn’t accept an amendment to clarify that, and you also had opposition testimony, clearly stating that this should be a path to personhood,” Goodhue said after Thursday’s vote.
The Senate version (SB 476), sponsored by Sen. Erin Grall, R-Vero Beach, has not been heard in committees yet.