A Florida law protecting preborn children from abortion after six weeks gestation, typically when a heartbeat can be detected, has taken effect. In response, Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration has issued guidelines on what treatments do or do not constitute abortions under the law.
HB 5, or the Reducing Fetal and Infant Mortality bill, was signed by Governor Ron DeSantis in 2022, and protected preborn children from 15 weeks gestation. An injunction was placed on the law, and though that injunction was thrown out, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case on the law’s validity. In 2023, lawmakers signed HB 7, or the Heartbeat Protection Act, into law, which protects children from abortion after six weeks gestation, and was written to take effect if the Supreme Court upheld HB 5.
Last month, the Supreme Court ruled that HB 5 would stand, allowing HB 7 to take effect on May 1.
At fertilization, a new human life is created, with his or her own unique DNA and traits, including hair color, eye color, and sex already determined. The heart begins beating just 21 days after fertilization, with blood actually being pumped throughout the baby’s body. Though small and reliant upon his or her mother to survive, a preborn child is a living human being, and therefore, deserving of the right to life. By the sixth week of pregnancy (four weeks following fertilization), the brain has appeared, the two-chambered heart and circulatory system are already functioning, the large and small intestines have formed, and early eyes and upper and lower limb buds have begun to appear.
In response to the new law, Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration outlined new rules to serve as guidelines for what does or does not constitute an “abortion” under the law. Under the rules, treatment for conditions like premature rupture of membranes (PPROM), ectopic pregnancy, and more would not be classified as an abortion, though physicians would have to document their course of treatment. If a doctor induces birth after a premature rupture of membranes and the baby does not survive, that would not be considered an abortion under the law. The same guidelines would apply for not just ectopic pregnancies, but also for trophoblastic tumors. These are tumors that grow where the placenta attaches to the uterus; though often benign, these tumors can sometimes become malignant.
The Agency said it specifically made sure to put these rules into place to combat pro-abortion misinformation and scare tactics, saying in a statement, “The Agency (for Health Care Administration) finds there is an immediate danger to the health, safety, and welfare of pregnant women and babies due to a deeply dishonest scare campaign and disinformation being perpetuated by the media, the Biden administration, and advocacy groups to misrepresent the Heartbeat Protection Act (the six-week law) and the state’s efforts to protect life, moms, and families.”
