Rape victims must show proof to get an exception under Florida’s 6-week abortion ban
TALLAHASSEE — Floridians who are raped would need to show evidence of that crime if they want an exception under the Legislature’s proposed six-week abortion ban, a requirement that advocates say would traumatize victims of sexual violence even more.
Victims of rape or incest would have to provide a copy of a restraining order, police report, medical record or court document to obtain an abortion after six weeks of pregnancy. Rape and incest exceptions would end at 15 weeks of pregnancy.
The paperwork requirement would further distress rape victims, who often don’t file reports with law enforcement and the authorities, said Kim S. Ménard, a Penn State Altoona criminal justice professor who studies sexual violence.
“It is appalling,” she said. “It sets up incredible barriers. Most of the time victims don’t have the strength, given the stigma society puts on them, to come forward, period — to come forward for the most basic help.”
Jennifer Dritt, executive director of the Florida Council Against Sexual Violence, said lawmakers didn’t consult with her group representing 29 rape crisis centers across the state when crafting the bill’s language.
“It demonstrates a complete lack of understanding that most victims of sexual assault don’t report,” she said. “This exception is meaningless, and it is harmful.”
Only about 20% of rapes and sexual assaults are reported to police, according to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Supporters of the bill say they want to defend “the rights of the unborn,” and the exceptions will allow rape and incest victims to obtain abortions.
“My No. 1 priority was an inclusion in whatever legislation we carried an exception for rape and incest. .... That’s why I am supporting it,” Senate President Kathleen Passidomo told reporters on Tuesday.
Last year, Passidomo said she would support a 12-week ban, stopping short of calling for a near-total ban on abortion.
Gov. Ron DeSantis hasn’t committed to signing the six-week abortion ban but said he found the exceptions “sensible” and that he wants to sign additional anti-abortion legislation.
Victims have a variety of reasons for not coming forward and reporting sexual violence, Ménard said. They fear not being believed. They feel ashamed and don’t want friends and family to know they were raped. They may want to protect the person who raped them, even though they detest what happened, Ménard said.
About 80% of perpetrators of sexual violence know their victim, according to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network.
Central Florida’s rape crisis center counseled 326 rape victims in crisis in Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties during the 2021-22 fiscal year, 14% of which hadn’t reported their rape to law enforcement, said Lui Damiani, executive director of the Victim Service Center of Central Florida.
Lawmakers should consider what the paperwork requirements could mean for rape victims, he said.
“Some of the highest levels of PTSD are associated with victims of sexual violence,” Damiani said. “Reliving those experiences and those triggers is part of the reason clients nine years after the event are coming and seeking our services. Retraumatizing victims is definitely something we don’t want to do.”
If approved, the new law would make it difficult for women to seek abortions. About one-in-three people confirm their pregnancies after six weeks, according to a University of California San Francisco study.
The proposal allows for exceptions to save the life of the mother or prevent “serious risk of substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function” if two doctors sign off, or one if another doctor is not available for consultation. It also allows for abortions if a “fatal fetal abnormality” is certified by two doctors, and the pregnancy has not progressed to the third trimester.
Last year, 115 abortions in Florida were performed because of rape and seven because of incest, according to statistics from the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration.
In total, nearly 82,200 abortions were performed in Florida in 2022.
Some anti-abortion groups want the Legislature to go further than the six-week bill.
Andrew Shirvell, executive director of Florida Voice for the Unborn, said he thinks “the right to life of all unborn children here in Florida should be protected under state law.”
“Florida Voice for the Unborn would like to see the six-week abortion ban amended by the end of the legislative session in May, so that all unborn children in Florida are protected from the moment of conception — just like they are in Texas and in nearly a dozen other red states,” he said.
