A controversial wrongful death bill that critics say would establish “fetal personhood” has passed its first hurdle in the Florida Senate.
It’s the third year in a row Sen. Erin Grall, R-Fort Pierce, has filed Civil Liability for the Wrongful Death of an Unborn Child (SB 164). The measure would give parents the ability to sue for damages for the wrongful death of an unborn child, but defines “unborn child” as “a member of the species Homo sapiens, at any stage of development, who is carried in the womb.”
While there is case law in Florida where parents have received damages for the deaths of their unborn children, Grall said the interpretation of those cases show it’s not consistent with Florida’s six week abortion ban.
Supporters argue the bill simply creates parity with existing criminal law, but opponents warn it opens the door to costly lawsuits and a chilling effect on doctors.
Senator Erin Grall sits in the audience in the Supreme Court during a hearing on the 15-week abortion ban in Florida on Friday, Sept. 8, 2023.
“Why should there be a different standard of care in the medical profession when they are caring for a child inside a woman’s body? It doesn’t make sense to me,” Grall said in her closing statements.
The bill narrowly passed the Senate Judiciary Committee with 5 yeas and 4 nays.
Why the bill has reopened the fight over abortion rights
Democrats, abortion advocates and medical-malpractice insurers are pushing back on the bill, worried that it will open the door for frivolous lawsuits and cause a chilling effect among medical providers. They say the bill is a roundabout way of creating fetal personhood, which refers to the belief that a fetus should be recognized as a legal and moral person with rights, often including the right to life, from the moment of conception.
“SB 164 could be the beginning of a slippery slope where the state treats embryos and fetuses as ‘persons’ under the law,” said Michelle Grimsley Shindano, director of policy and government affairs with Planned Parenthood Florida Action.
“If embryos and fetuses were granted the same rights as a pregnant patient, that would take away the patient’s right to make health care decisions that are best for their body and specific situation, including in emergencies. That means lawyers, not doctors, will be consulted if that patient needs health care, including in an emergency.”
Grall said this bill is not a way to create “fetal personhood” and argued the bill creates “parity,” as the definition for “unborn child” is also used in Florida law for criminal penalties.
During the committee meeting, Senate Democrats questioned whether someone who helps a woman get an abortion or gives a woman emergency contraception that prohibits the implantation of a fertilized egg would be subject to a lawsuit.
In Texas, an ex-husband sued his ex-wife’s friends for helping her through her at-home abortion in a wrongful death lawsuit. The ex-husband sought $1 million from each of the ex-wife’s friends, but dropped the suit in 2024.
“This legislation, if it were to pass, opens up the door for a lot of this, and then it’s going to have to be decided by case law,” said Sen. Tina Polsky, D-Boca Raton.
Grall said there’s nothing to prevent someone from filing a lawsuit, but frivolous cases will be dismissed: “I think there’s nothing to prevent every single hypothetical too that gets thrown at me in this committee or any other committee.”
“What the bill language seeks to do is make sure that physicians know that if they’re operating within the standard of care, there’s nothing to be concerned about,” she added.
This year’s version of the bill has an exemption for IVF
During public comment, a representative for The Doctors Company, the nation’s largest physician-owned medical malpractice insurer, said the bill would instead discourage physicians from providing obstetrical care.
Senior embryologist Sam Arida views the image of a healthy embryo at American Reproductive Centers in Palm Springs, Calif., on Sept. 23, 2025.
“The sad reality of this bill, the very people who need this obstetrical care the most in Florida are not going to get it,” said Mark Delegal of Aubuchon Consulting.
This year’s version of the bill includes a carve out for in-vitro fertilization, which was of concern in the past for Democrats and Republicans alike, who questioned if the bill would put IVF access at risk and open the doors for lawsuits against medical providers.
In 2024, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled IVF embryos are “extrauterine children” and legally protected like any other child. The move panicked patients and providers nationwide and forced some IVF clinics to halt operations.
But some anti-abortion advocates slammed the IVF exemption. Andrew Shirvell, founder of Florida Voice for the Unborn, said the legislation should include “embryos created and stored outside of the womb.”
“All means all, treating unborn children alike to born children. Otherwise this new law, or amendment to the wrongful death statute, is just arbitrary or capricious,” Shirvell said.
The companion bill in the House, HB 289, was filed by Rep. Sam Greco, R-St. Augustine. He also sponsored the House companion bill in 2025.
Grall has been behind many anti-abortion measures during her tenure in the Legislature, including the state’s six-week abortion ban, which became law after the Florida Supreme Court voted to uphold the state’s 15-week abortion ban.
A ballot initiative last fall that would have enshrined the right to abortion until viability in the Florida Constitution failed at the polls with 57% of the vote. In Florida, a constitutional amendment needs 60% of the vote to pass.
Ana Goñi-Lessan, state watchdog reporter for the USA TODAY Network – Florida, can be reached at agonilessan@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Florida Senate committee OKs ‘fetal personhood’ bill