{"id":45650,"date":"2024-05-19T20:47:40","date_gmt":"2024-05-20T00:47:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=45650"},"modified":"2024-05-19T20:47:45","modified_gmt":"2024-05-20T00:47:45","slug":"florida-declares-forced-birth-confusion-an-immediate-danger-lakeland-commissioners-must-step-in-and-clarify","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2024\/05\/19\/florida-declares-forced-birth-confusion-an-immediate-danger-lakeland-commissioners-must-step-in-and-clarify\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida declares forced birth confusion an “immediate danger”; Lakeland commissioners must step in and clarify"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Here is the text of what I’m asking the Lakeland City Commission on Monday to do about clarifying the brutalizingly unclear requirements of Jennifer Canady’s 6-week forced birth law.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

By BILLY TOWNSEND<\/p>\n\n\n

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What follows is the text of what I\u2019m planning to read to Lakeland City Commissioners Monday morning. I sent a version of this Friday to commissioners and to Lakeland Regional Health (LRH). I\u2019ve revised the final version a bit for length and clarity. But the substance is the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I asked LRH to share confirm receipt of my requests for information and share with CEO Danielle Drummond. LRH confirmed receipt; but I don\u2019t know if Drummond has seen my statement or request.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I should be clear; I\u2019m unimportant<\/strong><\/em>. I\u2019m just a citizen who takes the law and the public good seriously. I\u2019m easy to ignore; and I will be very<\/strong><\/em> pleasantly surprised if this generates any<\/strong><\/em> serious public discussion. I\u2019ll be very<\/strong><\/em> pleasantly surprised if anyone<\/strong><\/em> speaks at all to the \u201cimmediate danger\u201d state government has declared and how local \u201cleaders\u201d can address it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Political fear and abdication of responsibility defines every \u201cpro-life\u201d leader or officeholder I know today. Not one<\/strong><\/em> is willing to own and govern their beliefs in a serious way \u2014 at least not up until now. Perhaps this will prompt someone to step up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In any event, they can say they weren\u2019t asked to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is my statement:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Good morning, commissioners:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year, Lakeland Regional Health refused to allow a suffering pregnant woman with a fetus doomed by a condition called Potter Syndrome to end her pregnancy at 23 weeks. <\/a>Instead, LRH forced the woman to endure an additional four months of pregnancy. LRH forced this mother to give birth to a fetus everyone knew would die when born. This was well-documented by media reports at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LRH blamed former state senator Kelli Stargel\u2019s 15-week forced birth law for its decision; Kelli Stargel, in turn, blamed LRH for misinterpreting her law and said the woman should be able to end her pregnancy. Thus, neither LRH nor Kelli Stargel wanted this brutal forced birth to happen. And yet, both forced it to happen all the same. It is unclear if this would happen again if the same situation arose today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This type of brutalizing, official confusion is what led Florida\u2019s Agency for Health Care Administration (ACHA) to declare just days ago \u201cthere is an immediate danger to the health, safety, and welfare of pregnant women and babies\u201d<\/a> due to a lack of clarity over how doctors can and cannot treat pregnant women. The onset of Jennifer Canady\u2019s 6-week forced birth law has made the consequences of this confusion far, far worse.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, up to 20 percent of pregnancies end in miscarriage<\/a>. And 6-week forced birth appears to make many standard treatments for miscarriage illegal.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jennifer Canady and other state lawmakers who wanted 6-week forced birth have completely abandoned their responsibility. <\/a>They refuse to explain to pregnant women and health care providers which pregnancy complications and fatal fetal anomalies can be treated — and which cannot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That leaves, you, commissioners, to step into the void to prevent brutalities like the Potter Syndrome mother experienced from happening again, at scale. Local government clearly has an important role to play in times of public health crisis. During COVID, for instance, the City Commission and LRH worked together closely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this <\/strong><\/em>crisis, together with LRH, you have a moral and public health obligation to explain in writing, precisely and unambiguously, what the law requires \u2013 and what women can expect to experience under 6-week forced birth moving forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whatever one\u2019s political position on 6-week forced birth, it is the law today<\/strong><\/em>, right now. Women are living with its consequences at this<\/strong><\/em> moment. The \u201cimmediate danger to the health, safety, and welfare of pregnant women and babies\u201d cited by state health care officials is happening right now<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I\u2019m asking the City to convene a public Maternal Health Care summit to clarify the requirements and exceptions to Canady\u2019s 6-week forced birth law. I doubt Canady will come; but you should ask her anyway. It\u2019s her law, not yours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the very least, the summit should produce 1) a comprehensive list of life-threatening conditions LRH and other doctors are allowed to treat and 2) a comprehensive list of fatal fetal anomalies, like Potter Syndrome, that allow a pregnant woman to end her pregnancy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The state Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) recently identified a total of <\/a>two <\/a><\/strong><\/em>life-threatening pregnancy conditions that doctors can unambiguously treat without fear of prosecution. They are ectopic pregnancy and molar pregnancy.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The state named a third condition \u2013 premature rupture of membranes<\/strong><\/em>, which affects up to 10 percent of pregnancies \u2013 as eligible for pregnancy termination. But the state guidance for treating membrane rupture is completely incomprehensible and seems useless to any woman or doctor. The state list refers to \u201cother\u201d<\/strong><\/em> life-threatening conditions, but does not name them. LRH needs to name them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By contrast, there is no state \u201cfatal fetal anomalies\u201d list — at all. It does not exist. It\u2019s up to local government and LRH to create one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to requesting these two comprehensive lists, I have provided several additional questions and requests for information that should be addressed by the summit and\/or any public collaboration with LRH.<\/p>\n\n\n\n