All,
This is one we need to stay on top of. This is taking a women’s rights away!!
HB 5 (Grall) Fetal and Infant Mortality Reduction—the new version of the Republican abortion ban—is on the move in the House. It passed the Professions & Public Health Subcommittee last week and it will be heard TOMORROW in the Health Care Appropriations Subcommittee. We need your voices to OPPOSE THIS BILL TODAY.
Feel free to duplicate the same message that you sent from last week's Action Alert and simply send it to the Health Care Appropriations Subcommittee members below. But in case you did not take action last week or you have misplaced the information, I am re-posting some background information about the bill below along with clarification of a new talking point.
Background -- If enacted into law, the bill will prevent a physician from performing a termination of pregnancy if the physician determines the gestational age of a fetus is more than 15 weeks. There are also more stringent reporting requirements placed on medical abortions. After 15 weeks, there are no exceptions for rape or incest, though there are exceptions to save the life of the mother or if it can be proved the fetus has a fatal fetal anomaly.
There are many, many reasons to oppose this extreme legislation, but one of the cruelest parts of this bill (in addition to having no exceptions for rape and incest) is that it takes away the ability to terminate pregnancies for a fetal anomaly or genetic condition that will almost certainly cause suffering and death in a baby's first year(s) of life. Amniocentesis is performed at 15-20 weeks of pregnancy to confirm these kinds of conditions. These pregnancies are most often planned and wanted, and the decisions to end them are emotionally very difficult. Should a baby be brought into the world knowing it will suffer and die shortly after birth, even if it is loved dearly? Or does the woman recognize she does not have the physical, psychological, or financial means to live with that outcome? These are decisions that should not have the heavy hand of the Florida state government bearing down at that time. But this bill does exactly that. It tells the pregnant woman that her life doesn't matter. Worst of all, it reflects all that is bad about the Republican Party's false narrative of being pro-life, because it forces an innocent alive baby to knowingly suffer until it's early death. Sometimes their hypocrisy is just too much to bear.
It is clear women are not “free” to make their own private healthcare decisions in the free state of Florida! Please contact the following members of the Health Care Appropriations Subcommittee and tell them to VOTE NO on HB 5.
Their emails are grouped for easy cut/paste below and offered in various formats -
Chair: Avila, Bryan [R] Bryan.Avila@myfloridahouse.gov (850) 717-5111
Vice Chair: Trabulsy, Dana Lee [R] Dana.Trabulsy@myfloridahouse.gov (850) 717-5084
Altman, Thad [R] Thad.Altman@myfloridahouse.gov (850) 717-5052
Brown, Kamia L. [D]* Kamia.Brown@myfloridahouse.gov (850) 717-5045
Duran, Nicholas X. [D] Nicholas.Duran@myfloridahouse.gov (850) 717-5112
Garrison, Sam [R] Sam.Garrison@myfloridahouse.gov (850) 717-5018
Harding, Joe [R] Joe.Harding@myfloridahouse.gov (850) 717-5022Robinson, Jr., William Cloud "Will" [R] Will.Robinson@myfloridahouse.gov (850) 717-5071
Salzman, Michelle [R] Michelle.Salzman@myfloridahouse.gov (850) 717-5001
Sirois, Tyler I. [R] Tyler.Sirois@myfloridahouse.gov (850) 717-5051
Skidmore, Kelly [D] Kelly.Skidmore@myfloridahouse.gov (850) 717-5081
Smith, Carlos Guillermo [D]* Carlos.Smith@myfloridahouse.gov (850) 717-5049
Snyder, John [R] John.Snyder@myfloridahouse.gov (850) 717-5082
Woodson, Marie Paule [D] Marie.Woodson@myfloridahouse.gov (850) 717-5101
Yarborough, Clay [R] Clay.Yarborough@myfloridahouse.gov (850) 717-5012
Thank you,
Jean Siebenaler
DWCF Legislative Chair
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