Florida health officials on Thursday outlined a series of limited medical exemptions to the state’s six-week abortion ban.
The state Agency for Health Care Administration issued the rule the day after the ban went into effect, which effectively cut off access to abortion across the South.
According to the rule, “premature rupture of membranes (PPROM), ectopic pregnancy, and molar pregnancy…may pose an immediate danger to the health, safety, and well-being of women and unborn children in hospitals and abortion clinics if immediate and appropriate care is provided. and treatment is not provided.”
The measure specifies that if a doctor attempts to induce labor to treat premature rupture of membranes and the fetus does not survive, it will not be considered an abortion.
It states that treatments for a trophoblastic tumor, a rare tumor that forms where the placenta attaches to the uterus, are also not considered abortions.
The agency said it needed emergency regulation because pregnant people and babies were at risk “due to a deeply dishonest terror campaign and misinformation perpetuated by the media, the Biden administration and advocacy groups” to misrepresent abortion law.
Florida’s six-week ban was signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) last year. Its implementation was tied to a state Supreme Court case regarding a separate measure banning abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
After the court upheld the measure in early April, the six-week ban was triggered to take effect 30 days later.
The six-week ban includes exceptions in cases of rape, incest and human trafficking up to 15 weeks of pregnancy. It also allows doctors to terminate a pregnancy if necessary to save the mother’s life or prevent “a serious risk of substantial and irreversible physical disability.”
But doctors in states with nationwide abortion bans said they have difficulty navigating unclear and sometimes contradictory exceptions to the laws.
Health care providers say state abortion laws contain too much uncertainty and do not protect them if they need to have an abortion. As a result, stories are becoming common about pregnant patients in medical distress who have been thrown out of hospitals or forced to wait in a parking lot until their lives are in danger.
The Supreme Court last week heard arguments in a case challenging Idaho’s near-total abortion ban, saying it violated a federal law that requires doctors to provide stabilizing treatment to a patient in an emergency, even if that treatment is an abortion.
Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
