The Wrongful Death Act in Florida would be extended to unborn infants under a new law sponsored by Republicans. Cross-party, Democrats expressed worries about ambiguous wording and possible harm to abortion services.
“This bill expands Florida’s wrongful death act to allow parents of an unborn child to recover civil damages for such unborn child’s death in the same way that other survivors may generally recover under the act,” Republican senator Erin Grall, the sponsor of SB 476, stated in the Senate Committee on Judiciary meeting on Monday.
Senator Grall, who introduced the six-week abortion ban in Florida last year, clarified that parents who’ve faced the wrongful death of their unborn child have historically been prevented from seeking civil liability recovery.
This often occurs due to factors like car accidents or medical negligence, where another person intentionally or negligently causes the death of the unborn child.
Although the legislation doesn’t pertain to miscarriages, critics expressed concerns that it might be used to either sue or impose restrictions on abortion providers.
In a public hearing, Tsi Day Smyth of Women’s Voices of Southwest Florida, an activist group, stated that,” “You’re going to accidentally hurt the people you’re trying to help, The problem is that the bill doesn’t really make it clear as to what qualifies as an unborn child. I worry that this bill—the way it’s currently written—would have a negative effect on abortion providers…you’re going to restrict or scare abortion providers and there are going to be people that die,”
The sponsor said, “He may,” in response to Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book’s query on whether a father might bring legal action against a physician for executing an abortion outside of Florida’s current 15-week window.
“The father has a right as a survivor for the intentional or negligent death of the child. If that was intentional or negligent on behalf of the provider there is a potential that the father would have a cause of action against the provider,”Grall said. She clarified that the definition of a “survivor” in statute is limited, since an unmarried father who does not give his child substantial care cannot file a wrongful death lawsuit.
During the discussion, Sen. Book stated, “I think the concept is something we can all support. I think its very scary for folks living in a post-Dobbs world, in a place where we’re constantly chipping away at our rights to choose, that this is a piece of legislation that we’re considering at this point.”
Grall concluded by saying that her bill was entirely about parents and had nothing to do with abortion.
In her closing remarks on the bill, Grall remarked, “I can’t imagine what the loss of a child would be like. But to think that our laws would differentiate between a child who is due today, versus one who is still in utero and due in 2 weeks, and that we would place a different value and we would look at that life differently…Just doesn’t make sense.”
“I’m sorry that this has taken the route of an abortion discussion…there’s nothing in this bill [about that],” she said. “This is really about parents.”
