Doctors Speak Out As Florida Advances 15-Week Abortion Ban

A Florida Senate committee advanced a 15-week abortion ban in the state on Wednesday despite pleas from doctors to make a decision rooted in science and to consider the ramifications for patients.

Ahead of a hearing on Senate Bill 146, which would ban nearly all abortion in Florida at 15 weeks of pregnancy, a group of physicians and abortion providers gathered outside the state’s Capitol building before going inside to testify against the legislation.

“This bill ignores the many reasons why patients seek abortion care after 15 weeks. It completely misses the mark of reducing fetal mortality,” Dr. Rachel Rapkin, an OB-GYN from Tampa, Florida, told reporters.

Currently, Florida bans abortion at 24 weeks of pregnancy.

Rapkin shared a story about one of her patients, who learned from an ultrasound 20 weeks into her pregnancy that the fetus she was carrying had a severe abnormality, and that if the child survived outside the womb, its life would likely be short and require ongoing aggressive medical interventions.

Dr. Sujatha Prabhakaran, the chief medical officer of Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida, said a hard cutoff like the one proposed in this ban is unreasonable and ignores the realities of pregnancy and parenthood.

“Every person’s circumstances are different,” she said. “Every pregnancy is unique. Patients seeking care beyond 15 weeks are often in some of the most difficult circumstances.”

Rapkin and Prabhakaran are two of more than 450 Florida health care professionals who sent a letter to state lawmakers on Wednesday urging them to reject the bill.

Inside the chamber, Dr. Samantha Deans, the associate medical director of Planned Parenthood of Southeast and North Florida, shared the story of an 11-year-old patient who was pregnant as the result of a rape.

“She was too young and too scared to know what had happened to her, let alone to admit to anyone else,” Deans told the lawmakers sitting on the Senate’s health policy committee. “When her stomach began to show, her mother took her to a physician, who diagnosed her pregnancy at 23 weeks. At the tender age of 11, Lizzie could tell me that she did not want to be pregnant.”

During the hearing, the committee voted down an amendment that would make exceptions for victims of rape and incest.

Despite doctors’ examples of circumstances that can complicate a pregnancy after 15 weeks, the bill’s author, state Sen. Kelli Stargel (R), said Wednesday that the time frame in the bill offered patients plenty of time to make a decision. She also claimed that abortions had become “a number one means of birth control for many people.”

Stargel’s response to questions from other lawmakers on the committee centered largely around unscientific claims. By 15 weeks, she said at the hearing, “the baby is very much an individual person. They have pain and the arms and the ears and all of those things. … At that point, you start hitting viability.”

In reality, a fetus is not considered viable outside the womb until 24 weeks of pregnancy. It also isn’t until that point that a fetus has the capacity to feel pain, extensive research shows.

After Deans testified about the health risks that can be associated with pregnancy ― “hemorrhage, infection, preeclampsia or other hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, trauma” ― state Sen. Ileana Garcia (R) began questioning her about abortions resulting in disfigured babies.

“I have done some research, and I’ve seen different cases of people that have survived abortions, and they’re missing a limb, a leg,” she said.

Of the nearly 75,000 abortions performed in Florida last year, state data show, there were four reports of a fetus being born alive during the procedure.

“I do not know of any experiences of that situation,” Deans explained to Garcia, reminding her that a fetus is not viable outside the womb before 24 weeks.

The 15-week ban is similar to a Mississippi law currently under review by the U.S. Supreme Court, which is expected to rule in the coming months on the constitutionality of any bans on abortion before a fetus is viable.