Gabrielle Russon
A 20-year-old woman visited Chelsea Daniels’ Miami office last month and confided that she had been raped.
The woman was pregnant and it was too late for her to get an abortion now that the state’s six-week abortion was in effect — unless she could prove to the state that she had been a victim.
Victims of rape, sexual assault and incest can get the medical procedure within 15 weeks if they provide proof of the crimes against them — like a police report.
But what happened next, Daniels said, shows how Florida doesn’t truly have any “real exceptions” built since victims must go through hoops to get the documentation they need.
The woman didn’t speak English as her native language, so Daniels tried to help call the police on the woman’s behalf and even then, was unable to get the proper documentation to get abortion. The woman tried also and failed, according to the doctor.
“For this patient, who has just had the unimaginable happen to her, she was raped and is pregnant, has to leave the state in order to access care because this exception has failed her, because it is not a real exception,” Daniels said. “These are not real exceptions that actually serve our patients and help our communities.”
Daniels was one of several doctors speaking out Wednesday in favor of Amendment 4 with Floridians Protecting Freedom, the political group behind abortion rights initiative.
Amendment 4 would enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution and requires at least 60% of the vote to pass Nov 5.
Opponents call the proposal cruel and attack it for what they say is vague ballot language that takes away control to regulate the procedure from state lawmakers.
The opposition — led by Gov. Ron DeSantis — says Amendment 4 will make it easier for women to have late-term abortions. Reproductive rights advocates say women carrying fetuses that are not viable and will never develop into a healthy child need the access to medical care.
Republicans accused the abortion rights initiative of removing the current rules about parent consent. Amendment 4 leaders say that’s not true; if passed, Amendment 4 does not change the law regarding consent and it explicitly says that in the ballot language.
One doctor advocating for Amendment 4 said he fears Florida will push laws over birth control and contraception if the initiative doesn’t get approved.
“The state of women’s health care in Florida is frightening and extremely sad. If we pass Amendment 4, we can change this reality. If we do not fight back. It’s going to get worse,” said Jerry Goodman, a doctor from Sarasota who has been featured in the campaign’s latest ad.
16 comments
Michael roberts
September 18, 2024 at 5:09 pm
that vote no campaign is absolutely misleading.
Cheesy Floridian
September 24, 2024 at 9:43 am
extremely
lunacy
September 18, 2024 at 5:41 pm
Can you imagine a man having to provide a police report for any medical procedure???? Handmaidens we are not..
Bobblehead Kammy
September 18, 2024 at 6:32 pm
Any medical procedure? I just got a physical today like I do every year. I have never, ever, had to file a police report. More lies from the wacko lefties. Now put on some Taylor Swift.😜
cassandra was right
September 19, 2024 at 6:29 pm
Yeah, all that filing and proof and police reports and 24 hour waiting and counseling…. Just for women
STOP GOVERNMENT INFRINGEMENT on INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS!
Vote YES on 4!
Cheesy Floridian
September 24, 2024 at 9:35 am
I hope the people of Florida are paying attention to what DeSantis is doing. Why would all of sudden all this burden and destruction happen to the state of Florida if this Amendment passes when abortion was just banned at 6 weeks this past May? That means that before Ron signed the 15 week ban in 2022 and the 6 week ban in 2023 Florida allowed abortions up to a certain point and the state was doing fine. The Amendment takes away the 15 and6 week bans and it goes back to what it was. And the state was doing just fine. These people, Moody, DeSantis think that the Florida people are stupid and will blindly follow whatever they say. VOTE YES ON 4!
cassandra was right
September 24, 2024 at 2:35 pm
Excellent point!
Amendment 4 merely returns abortion rights to what they were before DeSantis’ dangerous, extreme bans. No need for DeSantis to waste taxpayer dollars fighting imaginary destruction and doom! Let’s pass Amendment 4, so the next time Ron panics, dishonest special interest groups won’t try again to distract him from his actual job — improving Floridians’ lives — not running them!
YES on 4!
ScienceBLVR
September 18, 2024 at 8:44 pm
Good point. But men are rarely victims of rape, are they? If that were happening more often to men, my guess is the laws would be structured quite differently…
cassandra was right
September 19, 2024 at 6:16 pm
Or having to wait in the ER parking lot because politicians say his broken leg isn’t life threatening
Vote YES on 4!
PeterH
September 18, 2024 at 6:57 pm
The government has absolutely no place in ANY individual’s healthcare decisions. That’s why doctors train for years! Republicans like Ron DeSantis listen to the advice from quack doctors like Ladapo! DeSantis had to search high and wide to find such an incompetent fool to guide Florida’s health decisions.
Jojo
September 19, 2024 at 7:16 am
Ah the state of Florida…. newest data shows us as being 48th in the nation in women’s health care and dead last in prenatal health care.
What would help pull,us out of this hole is an expansion of Medicaid but our governor refuses to take the federal money on the table.
Butt and beave
September 19, 2024 at 5:46 pm
Rejection of the newborn. Debate
Cindy
September 20, 2024 at 2:06 pm
Homeless because you can’t be in the economy is worse.
No one has the right to work. Worsing,
No land to roam. Is harder.
And no place to sleep or hunt or fish is starvation
All this reads repetitive sht
Cindy
September 20, 2024 at 2:12 pm
Roe and Wade is not a repe story it is a dispute from casual intercourse with feel good and I dislike the man.
Dont Say FLA
September 20, 2024 at 3:06 pm
The Florida politicians trying to prevent this vote and then trying to undermine this vote need to be voted out ASAP. If GOP Run States offered such a thing as a recall vote, Rhonda would have been recalled by now.
cassandra was right
September 20, 2024 at 4:34 pm
Of course birth control access is at risk! Contraception will be gone! “Pro-life” groups say it causes an abortion! They say it’s murder! In 2021 and 2022, Ron even vetoed long-lasting contraceptives for low income women and girls, showing everyone his plan for women. Straight out of Project 2025!
Almost all “pro-life” websites say pills, IUDs, shots, rings, etc., kill babies and should be illegal. In other words: any methods that women control, (with no male cooperation needed) are murder! And the women must be punished. These (mostly) men also want to make spousal rape unprosecutable again! (How convenient!!!) So no rape exception available!
Keep contraceptives legal!
Get GOVERNMENT OUT OF HEALTHCARE!
Vote YES on 4!