Florida health officials issued new abortion guidelines Thursday, threatening “regulatory action” against doctors who delay providing emergency medical care to pregnant patients, as providers say the state’s abortion ban makes doctors afraid to do their jobs and puts patients at risk.
“They know their law is putting women at risk, and they're just trying to intimidate doctors so we'll be afraid, instead of taking responsibility for what their law does to people,” said the Florida OB-GYN. Rolling StoneShe asked not to be named because the state controls her license and she fears retaliation for speaking out against them.
“You can’t legislate individual health care decisions because all that does is create chaos for the patient and the physician involved,” the doctor said. She added that the new guidelines further complicate matters about what is legally permissible under the state’s six-week lockdown. “It’s a political game and an attempt to blame doctors,” she said.
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision allowing states to ban abortion, reports have spread across the country of patients unable to get needed medical care, as doctors fear being sued. Florida’s six-week ban went into effect in May; under the law, doctors who perform abortions could face criminal charges and up to five years in prison.
The bill was signed into law by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), whose administration is now openly campaigning against a ballot measure to restore abortion access in the state. The Florida Department of Health and Human Services and the Agency for Health Care Administration sent an alert to all licensed physicians yesterday, claiming it was aimed at “addressing misinformation currently being spread about Florida’s abortion laws.”
The warnings point to several exceptions to the abortion ban. “The law is clear: abortion is permitted at any stage of pregnancy in Florida to save the life and health of the mother,” the guidance says. It adds that failure to provide life-saving treatment to pregnant patients without delay “may constitute medical negligence” and “regulatory action” will be taken against providers.
The American Civil Liberties Union says the ban “makes it harder for survivors of rape, incest and human trafficking to obtain abortions in Florida. Under the ban, survivors of rape, incest and human trafficking must provide documentation of their assault, and if they do not, they will be forced to carry and give birth to their children. There are no exceptions for rape, incest and human trafficking after the 15th week of pregnancy.”
The ACLU added that the exemptions to the ban related to the health of pregnant patients are “unavailable” and “put patients’ health, safety and future fertility at risk.”
Lauren Brenzel is the campaign manager for Yes on 4, a voter registration campaign that would re-legalize abortion in the state. She says working as an OB/GYN in Florida right now is difficult.
“You are simultaneously being told that you will go to prison if you make a mistake and have an abortion in a context that they do not consider valid, while also being threatened with regulatory action and medical negligence if you do not provide that care,” says Brenzel. Rolling Stone“It is an impossible choice – doctors are under threat from all sides because of government interference in their medical decisions.”
Abortion rights advocates in the state see the timing of the state’s new directive as a political calculation. The directive came days after the nonprofit Physicians for Human Rights released a report on the consequences of the state’s abortion ban. The report included harrowing stories of cancer patients, teenage rape victims and women who had abortions who struggled to get care this summer, after the state’s six-week abortion ban.
“instead of [responding with] “They’re sending scary messages to every licensed physician, while the guidelines on how to keep people healthy and protect them, they’re sending scary messages to every licensed physician,” said Laura Goodhue, executive director of the Florida Coalition of Planned Parenthood Organizations. Goodhue said that after the guidelines were released, she received an influx of questions from doctors and nurses across the state.
“Doctors don’t know what to do, it’s wrong to do it, it’s wrong not to do it,” Goodhue said. She said she often hears from doctors she works with, but this number was much higher. They told her they were confused, that they felt they were already following the law, and one maternal-fetal medicine specialist told Goodhue she found the guidelines offensive.
“She said to me, ‘I’ve never been so humiliated — I’m in this business because I want to protect mothers and children, and that’s what I do,’” Goodhue says.
In addition to being a major talking point in this year’s election, particularly in Florida, abortion has been on the rise nationally this week with ProPublica reporting on two black women in Georgia whose deaths were “preventable” but occurred as a result of the state’s abortion ban.
One woman, a single mother named Amber Thurman, was diagnosed with “severe septicemia” that is usually treated with a common, simple surgical procedure called a dilation and curettage, but doctors, fearing a violation of George’s new abortion ban, waited 20 hours to perform the procedure and Thurman died.
Last night, the Thurman family attended Oprah's virtual campaign event for Vice President Kamala Harris. “People all over the world need to know that this could have been prevented,” Thurman's mother, Shanette, said. “You're looking at a mother who is devastated. It's the worst pain a mother or parent can ever feel.”
Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, reiterated Shanette's words that Amber's death was “preventable” and that banning abortion and criminalizing health care providers can have dire consequences, even when there are exceptions for the mother's life.
“The problem with this is: Is she dying before you decide to help her? Is that what we’re saying?” Harris said. Politicians, including Donald Trump, “think they’re in a better position than a doctor or nurse to determine when their patient needs medical care,” she added.
On Friday afternoon, Harris raised Thurman’s case at a campaign event in Atlanta. She described Thurman as a “vibrant” and “ambitious” 28-year-old mother of a 6-year-old boy. “We’re going to say her name — Amber Nicole Thurman,” Harris said, leading the crowd in a chant of her name. Harris noted that the two deaths in Georgia reported by ProPublica “are the only stories we know about here.” Because of the way states review their maternal mortality data, there’s a delay in reporting preventable deaths like Thurman’s.
As debate mounts over the health consequences of abortion bans in states like Florida and Georgia, Republicans increasingly call the cases “misinformation” or say doctors are misunderstanding the law.
In Louisiana, Attorney General Liz Morrell issued a six-page statement in language similar to that used by the Florida Department of Health. She alleged that the media and politicians were spreading “misinformation” about Louisiana’s abortion ban.
“To be clear: Nothing in Louisiana law prohibits a physician from providing care that stabilizes and treats an emergency,” Morell said. “Any statements to the contrary are completely false. Any hospital or physician in any hospital or emergency room who refuses to treat and stabilize a woman who has suffered a miscarriage or ectopic pregnancy may be committing medical malpractice and violating federal law.”
Morell’s statement comes as pressure mounts on Louisiana to pass an unprecedented law reclassifying common birth control pills, including misoprostol, as controlled dangerous substances. Hundreds of doctors have voiced concerns that the law could delay care for women, especially since misoprostol is used to treat postpartum hemorrhage and will be removed from delivery carts.
It's common for anti-abortion politicians to pass laws that put women at risk, and then try to avoid blame for the consequences, Goodhue says.
“It’s the way they operate – through intimidation and bullying. This has been going on since we had protesters outside our clinic since Roe v. Wade [was originally decided]“Women have been persecuted and shamed for their access to health care for 50 years,” she says. “Now it’s state-sponsored intimidation and bullying.”
