Q&A of the Day – What’s Really in Florida’s Abortion Law & the Implications for DeSantis’ Political Future
Each day I feature a listener question sent by one of these methods.
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Today’s Entry: @brianmuddradio I don’t think @GovRonDeSantis can win a general election with his 6wk abortion ban, it’s not even majority popular within FL. He had the “Goldilocks” policy at 15 weeks, I think he took it too far. I believe medical issues for mother or fetus is a MUST exception. How about for the health of the baby? I read a story of a fetus being born without kidneys and the mom was forced to take the pregnancy to term. Not sure if the story was accurate.
Bottom Line: Well, I'll start by saying that the story you came across was entirely inaccurate. While I’ve comprehensively covered Florida’s new “Heartbeat” or new abortion law, which contains a six-week abortion limit, it’s become clear that numerous news accounts of the new law are blatantly false. And along with the blatantly false reporting of the new law come misperceptions by Floridians of what’s actually in it. And along with misperceptions by Floridians of what’s actually in it come assumptions like the political calculus for Ron DeSantis’ soon-to-be announced presidential bid. I’ll start by saying I don’t blame this listener, or any, who has been misinformed about what’s in the new law. It’s not the job of Floridians to read through legislation in order to understand what’s in it. It is quite literally the job of those in the news media who report on these issues to you. It’s evident based on your account, and the accounts of others who’ve heard similar things and reported back to me, that’s either not being done or that they're outright choosing to lie about the law.
Some laws are long and can be complicated. What makes the misreporting of Florida’s new abortion law especially notable, is that it’s neither. Much like the false reporting around last year’s Parental Rights in Education legislation, which was falsely characterized, and often still is, as “don’t say gay”, this law is a short and straight forward read. Checking in with only 11 pages, there’s simply no excuse for those who’ve reported on the law to not have read and shared what’s actually in it, in addition to what changes as a result of it. Let’s start with the legal summary of the law:
- Citing this act as the “Heartbeat Protection Act”; requiring the Department of Health to contract for the management and delivery of parenting support services, in addition to pregnancy support services; prohibiting physicians from knowingly performing or inducing a termination of pregnancy after the gestational age of the fetus is determined to be more than 6 weeks, rather than 15 weeks, with exceptions; providing an exception if the woman obtaining the abortion is doing so because she is a victim of rape, incest, or human trafficking, subject to certain conditions; requiring that medications intended for use in a medical abortion be dispensed in person by a physician.
That’s a good place to start because it specifically indicates exceptions and lists a few of them. You’d mentioned that you thought it was important to have exceptions for consideration for the mother and the law does provide for them under every adverse circumstance. But you also asked about and mentioned the consideration for a fetus. While not specifically cited under the legal summary – it is in the law. The section addressing this is on the 8th page of the law and reads:
- The pregnancy has not progressed to the third trimester and two physicians certify in writing that, in reasonable medical judgment, the fetus has a fatal fetal abnormality.
That’s instructive for two reasons as it’s language that addresses a mother’s considerations, in addition to the babies', but also provides guidance as to how late the exceptions exist for fetal abnormality, which is the third trimester, or 28th weeks. I’ve literally not come across a single news report which has indicated that this is the case. As for the duration of the exceptions for the mother’s adverse conditions it reads:
- The pregnancy is the result of rape, incest, or human trafficking and the gestational age of the fetus is not more than 15 weeks as determined by the physician.
That is unchanged from the previous 15-week limit. And that this isn't widely reported speaks to the broader issues with media coverage and characterizations of the new law. It’s also why the term “6-week ban”, as widely used, is false. As discussed, the law allows for abortions under certain circumstances for up to 28 weeks. As for the politics of this as it applies to DeSantis...
It’s safe to say after last year’s midterm election results nationally that abortion isn’t a winning political issue. That said, the media’s false reporting and mischaracterizations are likely significant contributors to that dynamic. Being able to clearly speak truth, as I’ve just laid out, when necessary, would be important for DeSantis or any politician on the right when pressed on the issue. As I covered last year, while only 47% of Americans consider themselves “prolife”, a full 71% of Americans are opposed to late-term abortions. Moreover, polling has shown that by a margin of 50%-46% Americans are supportive of a six-week abortion limit with exceptions – which is exactly what Florida’s law is and does. Much of the polling and convo around the issue in Florida can’t be trusted because of the way the question is framed and due to the lack of understanding of what the law is and does as is evidenced by today’s Q&A. We can make this complicated, but we don’t have to. Conceptionally it’s not any more complicated than this question. And it’s the way I’d address it if I were running for office and questioned. If a fetus has a heartbeat detected, should we be aborting that baby? Opposition to this issue largely rests in ignorance. Most people really aren’t so heartless that they think a baby with a heartbeat should be eliminated. The fact of the matter is many just don’t know. Beyond that there is a structural way to handle this issue as well should DeSantis choose to do so.
When the Surpreme Court struck down Roe, they sent the abortion issue back to the states to regulate. All DeSantis would need to say, and pledge if it is his position (which I’m unaware of), is that it’s a state’s right issue that he would not act on as president. That would effectively take the issue off of the table. Now with all of this said, I want to illustrate a point that I think is especially admirable. DeSantis is a smart guy. He knows leaving the Florida limit at 15 weeks was the easier path to take on this issue. Given his presidential aspirations, it’s admirable that he put his values, and what he believes to be right, ahead of what was/is the politically expedient thing to do. That is a true sign of character and the true sign of a leader.