Bill Text: FL S1702 | 2012 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Abortion
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2012-03-09 - Died in Health Regulation [S1702 Detail]
Download: Florida-2012-S1702-Introduced.html
Florida Senate - 2012 SB 1702 By Senator Siplin 19-00966A-12 20121702__ 1 A bill to be entitled 2 An act relating to abortion; providing a short title; 3 providing findings and intent; amending s. 390.0111, 4 F.S.; requiring a person performing a termination of 5 pregnancy to first sign an affidavit stating that he 6 or she is not performing the termination of pregnancy 7 because of the child’s sex or race and has no 8 knowledge that the pregnancy is being terminated 9 because of the child’s sex or race; providing criminal 10 penalties; prohibiting performing or inducing a 11 termination of pregnancy knowing that it is sought 12 based on the sex or race of the child or the race of a 13 parent of that child, using force or the threat of 14 force to intentionally injure or intimidate any person 15 for the purpose of coercing a sex-selection or race 16 selection termination of pregnancy, and soliciting or 17 accepting moneys to finance a sex-selection or race 18 selection termination of pregnancy; providing criminal 19 penalties; providing for injunctions against specified 20 violations; providing for civil actions by certain 21 persons with respect to certain violations; specifying 22 appropriate relief in such actions; authorizing civil 23 fines of up to a specified amount against physicians 24 and other medical or mental health professionals who 25 knowingly fail to report known violations; providing 26 that a woman on whom a sex-selection or race-selection 27 termination of pregnancy is performed is not subject 28 to criminal prosecution or civil liability for any 29 violation or for a conspiracy to commit a violation; 30 conforming a cross-reference; providing an effective 31 date. 32 33 WHEREAS, women are a vital part of American society and 34 culture and possess the same fundamental human rights and civil 35 rights as men, and 36 WHEREAS, United States law prohibits the dissimilar 37 treatment for males and females who are similarly situated and 38 prohibits sex discrimination in various contexts, including the 39 provision of employment, education, housing, health insurance 40 coverage, and athletics, and 41 WHEREAS, sex is an immutable characteristic, and is 42 ascertainable at the earliest stages of human development 43 through existing medical technology and procedures commonly in 44 use, including maternal-fetal bloodstream DNA sampling, 45 amniocentesis, chorionic villus sampling or “CVS,” and medical 46 sonography. In addition to medically assisted sex-determinations 47 carried out by medical professionals, a growing sex 48 determination niche industry has developed and is marketing low 49 cost commercial products, widely advertised and available, that 50 aid in the sex determination of an unborn child without the aid 51 of medical professionals. Experts have demonstrated that the 52 sex-selection industry is on the rise and predict that it will 53 continue to be a growing trend in the United States. Sex 54 determination is always a necessary step to the procurement of a 55 sex-selection abortion, and 56 WHEREAS, a “sex-selection abortion” is an abortion 57 undertaken for purposes of eliminating an unborn child of an 58 undesired sex. Sex-selection abortion is barbaric, and described 59 by scholars and civil rights advocates as an act of sex-based or 60 gender-based violence predicated on sex discrimination. By 61 definition, sex-selection abortions do not implicate the health 62 of the mother of the unborn, but instead are elective procedures 63 motivated by sex or gender bias, and 64 WHEREAS, the targeted victims of sex-selection abortions 65 performed in the United States and worldwide are overwhelmingly 66 female. The selective abortion of females is female infanticide, 67 the intentional killing of unborn females, due to the preference 68 for male offspring or “son preference.” Son preference is 69 reinforced by the low value associated, by some segments of the 70 world community, with female offspring. Those segments tend to 71 regard female offspring as financial burdens to a family over 72 their lifetime due to their perceived inability to earn or 73 provide financially for the family unit as can a male. In 74 addition, due to social and legal convention, female offspring 75 are less likely to carry on the family name. “Son preference” is 76 one of the most evident manifestations of sex or gender 77 discrimination in any society, undermining female equality, and 78 fueling the elimination of females’ right to exist in instances 79 of sex-selection abortion, and 80 WHEREAS, sex-selection abortions are not expressly 81 prohibited by United States law and the laws of 48 states. Sex 82 selection abortions are performed in the United States. In a 83 March 2008 report published in the Proceedings of the National 84 Academy of Sciences, Columbia University economists Douglas 85 Almond and Lena Edlund examined the sex ratio of United States 86 born children and found “evidence of sex selection, most likely 87 at the prenatal stage.” The data revealed obvious “son 88 preference” in the form of unnatural sex-ratio imbalances within 89 certain segments of the United States population, primarily 90 those segments tracing their ethnic or cultural origins to 91 countries where sex-selection abortion is prevalent. The 92 evidence strongly suggests that some Americans are exercising 93 sex-selection abortion practices within the United States 94 consistent with discriminatory practices common to their country 95 of origin, or the country to which they trace their ancestry. 96 While sex-selection abortions are more common outside the United 97 States, the evidence reveals that female infanticide is also 98 occurring in the United States, and 99 WHEREAS, the American public supports a prohibition of sex 100 selection abortion. In a March 2006 Zogby International poll, 86 101 percent of Americans agreed that sex-selection abortion should 102 be illegal, yet only two states have proscribed sex-selection 103 abortion, and 104 WHEREAS, despite the failure of the United States to 105 proscribe sex-selection abortion, the United States Congress has 106 expressed repeatedly, through Congressional resolution, strong 107 condemnation of policies promoting sex-selection abortion in the 108 “Communist Government of China.” Likewise, at the 2007 United 109 Nation’s Annual Meeting of the Commission on the Status of 110 Women, 51st Session, the United States’ delegation spearheaded a 111 resolution calling on countries to eliminate sex-selective 112 abortion, a policy directly contradictory to the permissiveness 113 of current United States’ law, which places no restriction on 114 the practice of sex-selection abortion. The United Nations 115 Commission on the Status of Women has urged governments of all 116 nations “to take necessary measures to prevent . . . prenatal 117 sex selection,” and 118 WHEREAS, a 1990 report by Harvard University economist 119 Amartya Sen estimated that more than 100 million women were 120 “demographically missing” from the world as early as 1990 due to 121 sexist practices, including sex-selection abortion. Many experts 122 believe sex-selection abortion is the primary cause. As of 2008, 123 estimates of women missing from the world range in the hundreds 124 of millions, and 125 WHEREAS, countries with longstanding experience with sex 126 selection abortion—such as the Republic of India, the United 127 Kingdom, and the People’s Republic of China—have enacted 128 complete bans on sex-selection abortion, and have steadily 129 continued to strengthen prohibitions and penalties. The United 130 States, by contrast, has no law in place to restrict sex 131 selection abortion, establishing the United States as affording 132 less protection from sex-based infanticide than the Republic of 133 India or the People’s Republic of China, whose recent practices 134 of sex-selection abortion were vehemently and repeatedly 135 condemned by United States congressional resolutions and by the 136 United States’ Ambassador to the Commission on the Status of 137 Women. Public statements from within the medical community 138 reveal that citizens of other countries come to the United 139 States for sex-selection procedures that would be criminal in 140 their country of origin. Because the United States permits 141 abortion on the basis of sex, the United States may effectively 142 function as a “safe haven” for those who seek to have American 143 physicians do what would otherwise be criminal in their home 144 countries—a sex-selection abortion, most likely late-term, and 145 WHEREAS, the American medical community opposes sex 146 selection abortion. The American College of Obstetricians and 147 Gynecologists, commonly known as “ACOG,” stated in its February 148 2007 Ethics Committee Opinion, Number 360, that sex-selection is 149 inappropriate for family planning purposes because sex-selection 150 “ultimately supports sexist practices.” Likewise, the American 151 Society for Reproductive Medicine has opined that sex-selection 152 for family planning purposes is ethically problematic, 153 inappropriate, and should be discouraged, and 154 WHEREAS, sex-selection abortion results in an unnatural 155 sex-ratio imbalance. An unnatural sex-ratio imbalance is 156 undesirable, due to the inability of the numerically predominant 157 sex to find mates. Experts worldwide document that a significant 158 sex-ratio imbalance in which males numerically predominate can 159 be a cause of increased violence and militancy within a society. 160 Likewise, an unnatural sex-ratio imbalance gives rise to the 161 commoditization of humans in the form of human trafficking, and 162 a consequent increase in kidnapping and other violent crime, and 163 WHEREAS, sex-selection abortions have the effect of 164 diminishing the representation of women in the American 165 population, and therefore, the American electorate, and 166 WHEREAS, sex-selection abortion reinforces sex 167 discrimination and has no place in a civilized society, and 168 WHEREAS, minorities are a vital part of American society 169 and culture and possess the same fundamental human rights and 170 civil rights as the majority, and 171 WHEREAS, United Sates law prohibits the dissimilar 172 treatment of persons of different races who are similarly 173 situated. United States law prohibits discrimination on the 174 basis of race in various contexts, including the provision of 175 employment, education, housing, health insurance coverage, and 176 athletics, and 177 WHEREAS, a “race-selection abortion” is an abortion 178 performed for purposes of eliminating an unborn child because 179 the child or a parent of the child is of an undesired race. 180 Race-selection abortion is barbaric, and described by civil 181 rights advocates as an act of race-based violence, predicated on 182 race discrimination. By definition, race-selection abortions do 183 not implicate the health of mother of the unborn, but instead 184 are elective procedures motivated by race bias, and 185 WHEREAS, no state has enacted law to proscribe the 186 performance of race-selection abortions, and 187 WHEREAS, race-selection abortions have the effect of 188 diminishing the number of minorities in the American population 189 and therefore, the American electorate, and 190 WHEREAS, race-selection abortion reinforces racial 191 discrimination and has no place in a civilized society, and 192 WHEREAS, the history of the United States includes examples 193 of both sex discrimination and race discrimination. The people 194 of the United States ultimately responded in the strongest 195 possible legal terms by enacting constitutional amendments 196 correcting elements of such discrimination. Women, once 197 subjected to sex discrimination that denied them the right to 198 vote, now have suffrage guaranteed by the Nineteenth Amendment 199 to the United States Constitution. African-Americans, once 200 subjected to race discrimination through slavery that denied 201 them equal protection of the laws, now have that right 202 guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States 203 Constitution. The elimination of discriminatory practices has 204 been and is among the highest priorities and greatest 205 achievements of American history, and 206 WHEREAS, implicitly approving the discriminatory practices 207 of sex-selection abortion and race-selection abortion by 208 choosing not to prohibit them will reinforce these inherently 209 discriminatory practices, and evidence a failure to protect a 210 segment of certain unborn Americans because those unborn are of 211 a sex or racial makeup that is disfavored. Sex-selection and 212 race-selection abortions trivialize the value of the unborn on 213 the basis of sex or race, reinforcing sex and race 214 discrimination, and coarsening society to the humanity of all 215 vulnerable and innocent human life, making it increasingly 216 difficult to protect such life. Thus, this state has a 217 compelling interest in acting—indeed it must act—to prohibit 218 sex-selection abortion and race-selection abortion, NOW, 219 THEREFORE, 220 221 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 222 223 Section 1. This act may be cited as the “Susan B. Anthony 224 and Frederick Douglass Prenatal Nondiscrimination and Equal 225 Opportunity for Life Act”. 226 Section 2. The Legislature declares that there is no place 227 for discrimination and inequality in human society in the form 228 of abortions due to a child’s sex or race. Sex-selection and 229 race-selection abortions are elective procedures that do not in 230 any way implicate a woman’s health. The purpose of this act is 231 to protect unborn children from prenatal discrimination in the 232 form of being subjected to an abortion based on the child’s sex 233 or race by prohibiting sex-selection or race-selection 234 abortions. The intent of this act is not to establish or 235 recognize a right to an abortion or to make lawful an abortion 236 that is currently unlawful. 237 Section 3. Subsections (6) through (13) of section 238 390.0111, Florida Statutes, are renumbered as subsections (7) 239 through (14), respectively, a new subsection (6) is added to 240 that section, and present subsections (2) and (10) of that 241 section are amended, to read: 242 390.0111 Termination of pregnancies.— 243 (2) PERFORMANCE BY PHYSICIAN; REQUIRED AFFIDAVIT.— 244 (a) ANotermination of pregnancy may notshallbe 245 performed at any time except by a physician as defined in s. 246 390.011. 247 (b) A person may not knowingly perform a termination of 248 pregnancy before that person completes and signs an affidavit 249 stating that he or she is not performing the termination of 250 pregnancy because of the child’s sex or race and has no 251 knowledge that the pregnancy is being terminated because of the 252 child’s sex or race. 253 (6) SEX AND RACE SELECTION.— 254 (a) A person may not knowingly do any of the following: 255 1. Perform or induce a termination of pregnancy knowing 256 that it is sought based on the sex or race of the child or the 257 race of a parent of that child. 258 2. Use force or the threat of force to intentionally injure 259 or intimidate any person for the purpose of coercing a sex 260 selection or race-selection termination of pregnancy. 261 3. Solicit or accept moneys to finance a sex-selection or 262 race-selection termination of pregnancy. 263 (b) The Attorney General or the state attorney may bring an 264 action in circuit court to enjoin an activity described in 265 paragraph (a). 266 (c) The father of the unborn child who is married to the 267 mother at the time she receives a sex-selection or race 268 selection termination of pregnancy, or, if the mother has not 269 attained 18 years of age at the time of the termination of 270 pregnancy, the maternal grandparents of the unborn child, may 271 bring a civil action on behalf of the unborn child to obtain 272 appropriate relief with respect to a violation of paragraph (a). 273 The court may award reasonable attorney fees as part of the 274 costs in an action brought pursuant to this subsection. For the 275 purposes of this subsection, “appropriate relief” includes 276 monetary damages for all injuries, whether psychological, 277 physical, or financial, including loss of companionship and 278 support, resulting from the violation. 279 (d) A physician, physician’s assistant, nurse, counselor, 280 or other medical or mental health professional who knowingly 281 does not report known violations of this subsection to 282 appropriate law enforcement authorities shall be subject to a 283 civil fine of not more than $10,000. 284 (e) A woman on whom a sex-selection or race-selection 285 termination of pregnancy is performed is not subject to criminal 286 prosecution or civil liability for any violation of this 287 subsection or for a conspiracy to violate this subsection. 288 (11)(10)PENALTIES FOR VIOLATION.—Except as provided in 289 subsections (3) and (8)(7): 290 (a) Any person who willfully performs, or actively 291 participates in, a termination of pregnancy procedure in 292 violation of the requirements of this section commits a felony 293 of the third degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 294 775.083, or s. 775.084. 295 (b) Any person who performs, or actively participates in, a 296 termination of pregnancy procedure in violation of the 297 provisions of this section which results in the death of the 298 woman commits a felony of the second degree, punishable as 299 provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084. 300 Section 4. This act shall take effect October 1, 2012.