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CV NEWS FEED // The Florida Health Department sent out a memo last week to all doctors in the Sunshine State clarifying that miscarriage is not abortion under current Florida law.
The memo was issued “to address misinformation currently being spread concerning Florida’s abortion laws,” the Health Dept. stated.
Detailing the instances in which abortion is currently permitted by Florida law, which bans most abortions after six weeks–when a baby’s heartbeat can be detected–the health department then stated:
Health care facilities and providers must be aware that a physician providing life-saving treatment for pregnant women does not violate Florida law and that failure to do so may constitute malpractice. Additionally, a miscarriage is not an abortion. Section 390.011(1), Florida Statutes, defines “abortion” to mean the termination of human pregnancy with an intention other than to produce a live birth or to remove a dead fetus. A miscarriage does not produce a live birth.
The clarification comes as abortion advocates are aggressively pushing an abortion amendment that would codify a so-called “right to abortion” through all nine months. Amendment 4 would create provisions in Florida’s state constitution so that:
No law shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient’s health, as determined by the patient’s healthcare provider. This amendment does not change the Legislature’s constitutional authority to require notification to a parent or guardian before a minor has an abortion.
>> IN NEW AD, SURVIVOR OF FAILED ABORTION URGES FLORIDIANS TO VOTE ‘NO’ ON PRO-ABORTION AMENDMENT <<
Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has initiated an investigation into alleged fraudulent activity in the gathering of the signatures abortion advocates needed to place the amendment on the ballot. Deputy Secretary of State for Legal Affairs and Election Integrity Brad McVay has asked law enforcement to investigate claims of “illegal petition forms” and “voter fraud” related to the pro-abortion amendment 4.
The Catholic bishops in Florida strongly oppose the amendment, with Catholic churches and organizations donating $834,000 to oppose the measure. Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami has issued a condemnation of the proposed amendment, likening abortion to other genocides of the 2th century.
He said in a statement:
Catholic teachings on the rights and dignity of every human being from conception to natural death, stand in stark contrast to a tendency in our world to define classes or categories of people as “problems” and thus “dehumanize” them. Such reductive thinking led to the successive genocides of the 20th century and rationalizes the continued killing of the unborn. Last year, there were more than 83,000 abortions in Florida alone! These are 83,000 reasons why all Floridians should reject Amendment 4 and vote a resounding “no!”
