Reproductive Rights News Roundup – 3/15/2019

Supporters, Detractors Of Baxley’s Fetal Heartbeat Bill Have Showdown In The Capitol
By Ryan Dailey
WFSU Tallahassee
Supporters and opponents of Republican Senator Dennis Baxley’s Fetal Heartbeat Bill had a showdown of sorts Thursday in the Capitol.

Florida Lawmakers Again Debating When Life Begins
By Mike Vasilinda
Capitol News Service
Legislation prohibiting abortions after a fetal heart beat could be detected, which is usually around six weeks, could be a test case for newly appointed justices on the Florida Supreme Court.

Sen. Dennis Baxley’s anti-abortion law targets only women, should hit both sexes
By Lauren Ritchie
Orlando Sentinel
Nothing divides this nation more bitterly than abortion.

This Week @ The Capitol: Opening Week, March 5-8
YouTube video
Florida Planned Parenthood Alliance
It was opening week at the capitol and reproductive health advocates were there in force!

Susan B. Anthony List poll: Even pro-choice voters favor ban on late-term abortion
By Jacob Ogles
Florida Politics
New polling from the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List shows a vast majority of Floridians oppose late-term abortions. That includes a majority of those who self-describe as “pro-choice.”

Women Of Color Face Higher Risk Of Death During Childbirth. One New Bill Looks To Take Action
By Ryan Dailey
WFSU Tallahassee
A pair of Senate and House Bills looks to address maternal deaths from what legislators say are preventable complications during pregnancy. Supporters of the measure are alarmed that women of color die in childbirth at significantly higher rates than white women.

Central Florida pregnancy expert lobbies in D.C. for women’s health
Staff Report
Florida Courier
Dr. Linda Burke, a board-certified OB-GYN physician, author and blogger in Central Florida, is lobbying on Capitol Hill for women’s health

Florida International Women’s Day focuses on maternal mortality and healthcare
By John Lystad
FSU News
Chants of “women’s rights are human rights” and “I am not a host body,” echoed in the streets of downtown Tallahassee this week as hundreds of women from around the country became one collective voice for International Women’s Day.

Undercover volunteer poses as pregnant at ‘fake women’s health centers’ to gauge service
By Anna Johnson
Baltimore Sun
“Are you feeling like you’ve made a mistake?” she said when my pregnancy test flashed positive.

The ERA only needs one more state to get ratified. How about Florida?
By Mitch Perry
Florida Phoenix
Ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) might seem like a moment from a bygone era, but the truth is that it only needs to be approved by one more state to become part of the U.S. Constitution.

A closer look at the Supreme Court and the debate over abortion
By James Rosen
Sinclair Broadcast Group
Right now, at least 20 lawsuits are snaking their way through state and federal courts with the potential to reach the United States Supreme Court and cause the justices there to take a fresh look at the nation’s abortion laws.

Meet the “Sunrise Agenda,” a progressive path for Florida
By Mark Ferrulo
Florida Phoenix
Excerpt: The single most effective policy lawmakers could enact this year to increase access to health care is to expand Medicaid to working Floridians that currently fall into the coverage gap. Supporters of the Sunrise Agenda will champion efforts to stand up to powerful insurance and prescription drug lobbies and tackle our opioid crisis head-on. Additionally, we must promote reproductive freedom and trust women to make personal health care decisions including whether to have an abortion.

An Interview With Rep. Anna Eskamani
By Christian Casale
Valencia Voice
One of the newest members of the Florida House of Representatives, Rep. Anna Eskamani has already built a reputation for being a progressive firebrand just a few months into her first term. With fierce advocacy for women’s reproductive rights, gun control, and LGBT equality, Eskamani will certainly have a spotlight on her as Florida politics becomes more and more polarizing.

Opponents of a woman’s right to choose should mind their own business
By Scott Fenstermaker
The Villages News
While no one advocates abortion as a means of birth control, the anti-abortion fanatics, in their effort to restrict a woman’s right to choose, are cutting off funding from legitimate family-planning organizations. This is both short sighted and potentially dangerous.

Experts: HIV breakthrough unlikely to help those who need it most
By Fatiah Caldwell
The FAMUan
For just the second time since the worldwide epidemic began more than three decades ago, a patient in London appears to have been cured of an HIV infection, the virus that causes AIDS.

Syphilis is spiking in Leon County
By Breyanna Holmes
The FAMUan
Syphilis rates have increased dramatically in Leon County. They were up in all gender, age, race and sexual orientation categories between 2017 and 2018.

Planned Parenthood Dinner
Photography by Lori Sax
Sarasota Magazine
Five hundred and fifty people attended the dinner for Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida, which welcomed the brand-new president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Dr. Leana Wen, and journalist Irin Carmon, co-author of The Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.