January 15, 2024
Florida is a state with strong pro-life laws that only seem to get better. The newest target for Sunshine State legislators is Chemical Abortion Pills, harmful drugs which Students for Life Action (SFLAction) and Students for Life of America (SFLA) have been going after for some time now.
Here’s what you need to know about House Bill 1519, currently named the “Termination of Pregnancies,” introduced by Rep. David Borrero (R – Miami-Dade County).
What’s at Stake:
On average, more than half of direct, elective abortions are committed with Chemical Abortion Pills. These drugs have only become easier to purchase because of the Biden Administration, which abused their control of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) during the COVID crisis to set up No Test, Online Distribution of Chemical Abortion Pills, which exposes women to injury, infertility, death, and abusers.
This also outsources all the risks of complications to women – the people selling the pills aren’t around when something goes wrong. Abusers can also easily hide their crimes with a few clicks to order these drugs. Chemical Abortion Pills have a laundry list of other bad side effects (not to mention the fact that they kill a child), including:
- Between five and seven percent of women who take Chemical Abortion Pills will need a follow-up surgery to end the pregnancy as an incomplete abortion holds severe physical dangers.
- Without proper treatment, women also face an extreme risk of infertility after using Chemical-Abortion Pills if they have an Rh-negative blood type, which includes 15 percent of the population. Most women don’t undergo blood work when they receive these pills via mail and have no way of knowing what their blood type is.
- The pills cause four times the complications as surgical abortion, with a risk of death that is ten times higher, according to a National Institute of Health Study.
- Some young women have died, as the FDA has reported. As recently as September 2023, a woman in Nevada died days after going to Planned Parenthood to receive a Chemical Abortion.
Read: Another Downside of Chemical Abortion Pills: The Potential for Hidden, Disastrous Abuse
What The Legislation Does:
This law, improving upon the excellent Heartbeat Abortion Prevention Act that was signed into law last year by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, will greatly impact the protection of preborn life in the state. And it rightly codifies protections for the life of the mother, a basic pro-life position.
But it also goes after Chemical Abortion’s greatest vice: the ability to purchase or order the deathly drugs pretty much anywhere, thereby dismantling the left’s creation of an “Abortion by Amazon” world. This means that the days of mailing these such pills into Florida — if HB 1519 is signed into law — could be essentially finished.
HB 1519 will allow Florida women who illegally obtain pills out-of-state and then regret their abortions – which studies show are significant percentages of post-abortive women – sue their abortionists. This will significantly deter the shipping of pills into Florida by the pill pushing enthusiasts in the predatory abortion industry.
What We Have Said About the Issue:
SFLAction and SFLA have been extremely vocal and active on the issue of Chemical Abortion, undertaking numerous campaigns and initiatives to push back against this scourge, including:
- Supporting the introduction of The Ending Chemical Abortion Act by Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN).
- Launched and education campaign to show people dangers of Chemical Abortion Pills, called THIS IS CHEMICAL ABORTION.
- Penned an op-ed in Newsweek along with two state legislators, titled Stop Dumping Medical Waste, detailing some legislative solutions underway.
- Wrote another op-ed in The National Review illustrating the risks from Chemical Abortion Pills, including injury, infertility, and even death to women as well as to the preborn.
- Launched a campaign entitled “What’s in The Water”, which aims to conduct an Environmental Assessment of the impact of Chemical Abortion Pills along with tainted blood, tissue, and human remains in America’s wastewater system.
- Submitted Citizen Petitions to the FDA calling for:
- Adding Red Bag Medical Waste requirements to reduce the pollution from Chemical Abortion Pills;
- Restoring high health and safety standards (known as REMS – Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies) to protect women’s lives;
- Completing studies and ensuring protections for endangered species; and now,
- Requiring Protections for Water, especially recreational water, in compliance with the Clean Water Act.
- Conducted polling on the issue which found: “Almost 7 in 10 Millennials and Gen Z are more likely to support a candidate who supports laws that require in-person medical care and testing before and after the sale of dangerous Chemical Abortion Pills”
And so much more – visit our blogs at Students for Life of America, as well as our resources on Chemical Abortion, as well as the Students for Life Action page to see more. Learn more about the public health crisis being caused by Chemical Abortion Pills at THIS IS CHEMICAL ABORTION.
Needless to say, House Bill 1519 being introduced will save thousands upon thousands of lives. While it’s too early to celebrate now, it’s worth praising those who took this bold step towards increasing protections for life in Florida.
Stay tuned to this blog for future updates, as we track the progress of this legislation. To learn more about the other legislation moving through Congress that SFLAction supports, CLICK HERE.