On Wednesday, March 9, the Florida House passed a bill that aims to set new restrictions on abortion procedures. The Florida Senate also approved the bill for final passage on March 9 with a vote of 25-15.
The bill, HB-1411, sponsored by Rep. Colleen Burton (Lakeland, Fl.), passed in the House with a vote of 76-40. HB-1411 attempts to redefine gestation and pregnancy trimesters; according to the bill, the first trimester is defined as “the period of time from fertilization through the end of the 11th week of gestation” and the second trimester “is the period of time from the beginning of the 12th week of gestation through the end of the 23rd week of gestation.” The third trimester “is the period of time from the beginning of the 24th week of gestation through birth.”
The bill also requires clinics that perform abortions to have a written patient transfer agreement with a hospital in close proximity to the clinic. Physicians who perform abortions at the clinic must have “admitting privileges at a hospital within reasonable proximity to the clinic.” Directors of any medical facilities must also submit a report each month to agencies, covering the number of abortions performed, the reasons the abortions were performed and the period of gestation at the time each abortion was performed. It would also require annual health department inspections of licensed abortion clinics. Officials must review at least half of patient records since a clinic's last inspection.
The bill also prevents government agencies of Florida from working with any organization that provides abortion, unless every abortion is “conceived through rape or incest” or medically necessary to preserve the life of the pregnant woman or to avert a serious risk of substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman, other than a psychological condition.”
HB-1411 was presented to Governor Rick Scott on Friday, March 11.