Jesse Scheckner
Expectant mothers sentenced to prison will have to keep waiting for better considerations in Florida’s criminal justice system as legislation to pause their incarceration until they give birth is likely to die without a hearing.
Leaders in the Legislature shut out twin bills (SB 206, HB 145) that would enable judges to stay the prison terms of pregnant defendants for up to 12 weeks so they could give birth, nurse and bond with their babies.
It would also guarantee every female arrestee the right to a pregnancy test, upon request, within 72 hours of their apprehension.
The legislation is called “Ava’s Law” after a newborn who died in August 2021 after being born in an Alachua County jail. Erica Thompson, the baby’s mother, said she called for help as she went into premature labor before giving birth alone in her cell without medical aid.
The incident triggered protests outside the facility and drew the attention of Miami Gardens Democratic Sen. Shevrin Jones, who retitled and reworked legislation he first filed in 2021 to honor the child’s memory.
Jones previously passed the “Dignity for Incarcerated Women Act,” which mandated that menstrual products be provided free in Florida correctional facilities, and the “Tammy Jackson Act” to prohibit solitary confinement for pregnant prisoners and require that prisoners who go into labor be transported to a medical facility.
“The bill is really about providing mothers with the treatment and care that’s necessary to deliver their child safely before they (serve) their sentence,” Jones told WPLG Local 10’s Glenna Milberg when discussing “Ava’s Law” in 2023.
“All we’re trying to do is ensure that once the mother has the child that they receive the necessary care that has been recommended by physicians that she needs, because at the end of the day it’s really about making sure the baby is protected.”
Tampa Rep. Diane Hart sponsored the legislation in the House with co-sponsorship support from Fort Lauderdale Rep. Darryl Hart, a fellow Democrat.
Senate Democratic Leader Jason Pizzo, a former Miami-Dade County prosecutor, and Orlando Democratic Sen. Carlos G. Smith co-sponsored Jones’ bill in the upper chamber.
About 4% of women are pregnant when jailed, according to a 2019 study published in the American Journal of Public Health.
“The fact that nobody had collected this data before signals just how much this population is neglected,” the study’s author, Dr. Carolyn Sufrin of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, told The Associated Press.
Last year, California lawmakers passed bills that provide the protections contemplated in “Ava’s Law” and the “Tammy Jackson Act.”
SB 206 was to have first been taken up by the Senate Committee on Criminal Justice, while HB 145 was first referred to the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee. The panels’ respective Chairs, Fort Myers Republican Sen. Jonathan Martin and Hillsborough County Republican Rep. Danny Alvarez, declined to place the bills on an agenda.
“Ava’s Law” passed unanimously in the Senate in 2022 before dying without consideration in the House. The following year, it passed with overwhelming approval in the House but saw no Senate support.
Unless something changes, 2025 will be the second consecutive year in which both the Senate and House versions of the legislation were completely ignored.
