'Crazy' Florida Bill Could Allow Wrongful Death Lawsuits Over Abortions
Crazy Florida Bill Could Allow Wrongful Death Lawsuits Over Abortions
Republican lawmakers in Florida are pushing a bill that would revise the states wrongful death law, allowing individuals to sue and recover monetary damages over the loss of an unborn child.
Critics say the legislation would allow individuals to bring wrongful death lawsuits against doctors who provide abortion care and even friends or relatives who help a woman obtain an abortion something men have already tried doing in several states that have banned abortion or passed laws granting personhood rights to fetuses, embryos, and fertilized eggs.
In Alabama and Arizona, men have sued their ex-partners doctors for wrongful death after the doctors provided legal abortions to those women. (The Alabama lawsuit was ultimately dismissed; the Arizona case is ongoing.) In Texas, a man named Marcus Silva is currently suing three of his ex-wifes friends for wrongful death, alleging they helped her obtain pills to terminate her unwanted pregnancy. Silva is seeking $1 million in damages from each woman. In text messages introduced as part of that case, he allegedly promised to drop the lawsuit if his ex-wife had sex with him.
The Florida bill titled Civil Liability for the Wrongful Death of an Unborn Child was pre-filed ahead of the 2024 legislative session by state Sen. Erin Grall (R) and state Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulicka (R), the same lawmakers who sponsored Floridas six-week abortion ban last year.
If passed, the bill would add the parents of an unborn child to the list of people who can recover damages for mental pain and suffering and for medical or funeral expenses under the states existing wrongful death law, which is part of its negligence statute.