National Organization for Women

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Statement: Florida National Organization for Women (NOW) Sounds Alarm as Bill to Criminalize Abortion Advances

FLORIDA – The Florida National Organization for Women (NOW) expresses deep concern as HB 651 passes favorably out of the Civil Justice Committee, signaling a dangerous trajectory towards the potential criminalization of abortion in the state. This legislation poses a serious threat to reproductive rights and women’s health.

HB 651’s advancement in the legislative process is a cause for alarm, as it opens the door to unsettling possibilities. The language within the bill has been used in other states to criminalize abortion providers, patients seeking care, and individuals offering support. The specter of fetal personhood looms large, and Florida NOW urges residents to recognize the urgent need to protect reproductive freedom.

Florida NOW calls on all Floridians to take immediate action by contacting their lawmakers to voice opposition to this perilous and inhumane legislation. The potential consequences of HB 651 are far-reaching, affecting not only women’s rights but also privacy, autonomy, and access to essential healthcare services.

President Debbie Deland emphasizes, “This legislation poses a direct threat to the hard-fought rights of women and all individuals seeking reproductive health care. Florida NOW urges residents to make their voices heard by contacting their lawmakers and expressing their opposition to this dangerous and regressive measure.”

Florida NOW shares the following resource for individuals to contact their lawmakers:
– https://actionnetwork.org/letters/dont-criminalize-abortion

Florida NOW stands steadfast in its commitment to defending reproductive rights, advocating for the autonomy of individuals, and opposing any legislation that undermines these fundamental principles.

For media inquiries, please contact:
Katrina Duesterhaus, Florida NOW Legislative Director

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About Florida National Organization for Women (NOW):
Florida NOW is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing women’s rights and equality. With a focus on reproductive justice, gender equality, and social justice, Florida NOW works tirelessly to protect and promote the rights of women in the state. For more information, visit www.flnow.org.

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Florida NOW in the News: Florida Board of Education bans public funding for college diversity programs

TALLAHASSEE — Carrying out parts of a controversial 2023 law, the State Board of Education on Wednesday approved rules that will prevent colleges from spending money on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and remove a sociology class from a list of “core” courses.

The rules stem from a law (SB 266) approved in May by the Legislature and Gov. Ron DeSantis. The governor, who has been traveling the country for months in his presidential campaign, has made fighting against diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, initiatives a pillar of his education agenda.

One of the rules approved Wednesday defines DEI as “any program, campus activity, or policy that classifies individuals on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, gender identity, or sexual orientation and promotes differential or preferential treatment of individuals on the basis of such classification.”

State Board of Education Chairman Ben Gibson echoed previous remarks by DeSantis, saying “DEI really is a cover for discrimination, exclusion and indoctrination. That has no place in our state colleges at all, and our state colleges need to be focused on learning.”

Under the rule, Florida’s 28 state colleges will not be able to use state or federal money to “promote, support, or maintain” programs or campus activities that would violate a state law related to discrimination against students and employees.

Part of the law says that it would constitute discrimination to subject students or employees to instruction or training that would “compel” them to believe that a “person, by virtue of his or her race, color, national origin, or sex, should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment to achieve diversity, equity, or inclusion.”

Also prohibited are expenditures that would “advocate for DEI.” The measure defines such advocacy, in part, as colleges promoting “the position that a group or an individual’s action is inherently, unconsciously, or implicitly biased on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, gender identity, or sexual orientation.”

Florida’s 12 state universities also have been barred from spending money on DEI initiatives under the law. In November, the university system’s Board of Governors approved a public notice of intent to adopt a regulation that would carry out the prohibition.

The colleges and university measures also are designed to prohibit expenditures that “promote or engage in political or social activism” as defined by the rules.

The college system’s rule, which is nearly identical to the university system’s measure, defines such activism as “any activity organized with a purpose of effecting or preventing change to a government policy, action, or function, or any activity intended to achieve a desired result related to social issues, where the institution endorses or promotes a position in communications, advertisements, programs, or campus activities.”

In a November statement, Florida National Organization for Women President Debbie Deland said the universities’ regulation represents “unabashed assaults” on democratic values.

“Shamelessly violating freedom of speech, freedom of assembly in the hallowed ground coveted for the intellectual and humane development of our future citizenry and our future leaders is intolerable,” Deland said.

The Board of Education on Wednesday also approved an update to a rule about general education course options, which can be used to fulfill required coursework in various subject areas.

The revamped rule, in part, removes the course Principles of Sociology from a list of courses that students could take to complete coursework in the social sciences. In its place, the board elected to add a history course titled Introductory Survey to 1877.

Education Commissioner Manny Diaz said the sociology course involves the teaching of theories, which he said under the 2023 law puts the class out of compliance with the state’s requirements for core courses.

“The course in sociology is still available for students to take. But I think the statute is clear, that within the general education code, courses may not distort significant historical events or include curriculum that teaches identity politics or theories,” Diaz said Wednesday.

The commissioner contrasted the sociology course to the newly added history course.

“I think when you go into the sociology course you’re talking about theories. And that’s an option that students have, to explore those theories in a non-general education course. But it is important that our students are well-versed in American history, including those periods covered in (the history course) which includes things like slavery, and leading up to the Civil War,” Diaz said.

The push to remove sociology as a general education course has drawn pushback. During a news conference Tuesday at the Capitol, Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, criticized education officials’ actions.

“The Board of Governors, y’all, they are going after not just DEI, but sociology as a program. Please understand that every culture war really is a class war. We have to do what we can to ensure that regardless of how much money you have, that you can read books about yourself,” Eskamani said.

Read the article on South Florida Sun Sentinel here.

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Ileana Garcia, Rita Harris want to Ileana Garcia, Rita Harris want to reform Florida’s guardianship reform Florida’s guardianship system

‘The proposed legislation is not just a legal remedy; it’s a lifeline for vulnerable individuals.’

A bipartisan push is underway to reform Florida’s guardianship system after local and national investigations revealed that incapacitated seniors have been having their homes sold out from under them by agencies responsible for their care.

Miami Republican Sen. Ileana Garcia and Orlando Democratic Rep. Rita Harris have filed substantively identical bills (SB 48, HB 887) aimed at improving the state guardianship process.

The bill is to be named “Doris’ Law” after Polk County senior Doris Beaty, who was allegedly blocked through the guardianship program from accessing and officiating the estate of her late husband, Pete Beaty, after he began showing early signs of dementia.

Her son, Jacksonville-based legal consultant Rey Contreas, is working with lawmakers to pass the legislation.

Among other things, the legislation would secure family visitation rights unless there is “clear and convincing evidence” visitation or other contact is not in the guarded person’s best interest. Under current law, the appointed guardian is responsible for making that determination.

The legislation would also permit a jury to decide the validity of the incapacitated person or minor’s trust, amendment, power of attorney or will. According to women’s advocacy group Florida NOW, advocates say the change won’t burden courts because 99% of cases settle before reaching a jury trial.

“The proposed legislation is not just a legal remedy; it’s a lifeline for vulnerable individuals, preventing the kind of isolation, neglect and abuse that led to my grandmother’s tragic demise last year,” Florida NOW Legislative Director Kat Duesterhaus said in a statement.

“Let our collective call for guardianship reform echo loud and clear — it’s time to protect the voiceless and ensure that no one else suffers as my grandmother did.”

In cases where a person — typically a senior or minor — is legally deemed incompetent and classified as a ward, courts grant people called guardians legal authority to make decisions relevant to the ward’s personal and property interests.

It’s necessary when no family member can or is willing to step up to take responsibility for a loved one who is mentally or physically debilitated or too young to care for themselves.

For some seniors in Florida, which boasts some 2 million residents aged 75 or older, that arrangement has led to financial and property predation.

In Miami, WLRN reported that more than a dozen seniors in the city under the supervision of the Guardianship Program of Dade County had their homes sold by the nonprofit agency at marked profits.

The outlet’s investigation found that the company that bought and sold many of the properties belonged to Carlos Morales, husband of City Attorney Victoria Méndez. Mayor Francis Saurez was involved in several transactions with the company, Express Homes, in his capacity as a real estate lawyer.

One former homeowner who alleges Morales and Méndez defrauded him by buying his home “under false pretenses,” telling him the property faced steep building code violations before then getting the violation fines waived, has sued the couple.

Similar stories of seniors having their homes bought and sold without their consent have made headlines nationally, but especially in the Sunshine State.

“People don’t realize how abusive the system is. If they knew, there would be bigger cries for reform,” Pinellas County Clerk Ken Burke, who led a task force to improve guardianships, told the The Washington Post in November.

A Florida Clerks of Court Operations Corporation task force made 10 recommendations to improve matters in 2021, the top priority of which was the establishment of a statewide guardianship database.

State lawmakers in 2022 OK’d a bill by Fleming Island Republican Sen. Jennifer Bradley and St. Pete Beach Republican Rep. Linda Chaney (HB 1349) doing that.

But much more oversight is needed, Burke’s Office detailed in a scathing report in December 2022 centering on professional guardian Traci Hudson, who last year pleaded guilty to 19 felony counts for theft and exploitation. Hudson stole more than $500,000 over 11 months from a Pinellas senior after the man’s daughter died unexpectedly.

Last month, Burke penned letters to Garcia and Hart expressing his support of their measures, which he described as “very meaningful.”

“It keeps the focus on how the many flaws in the Guardianship system are allowing victimization of wards to continue,” he wrote. “Your legislation is an important step to provide needed safeguards.”

Garcia and Harris’ legislation and a nearly identical bill Delray Beach Republican Rep. Mike Caruso filed (and then withdrew) last year would include new provisions to increase guardian transparency.

The legislation would mandate that a verified inventory of a ward’s property be made available to their family, next of kin and any beneficiaries of a will the ward executed before being determined as incapacitated.

It would also require public guardians to be appointed on a rotating basis and establish the right of a ward to have their need for guardianship reevaluated every three years.

Caruso’s short-lived measure carried the title “Karilyn’s Law” after Karilyn Montanti, a Palm Beach County senior allegedly allegedly denied visitation from family while under a court-ordered guardianship program imposed by one of her daughters.

Montanti’s other daughter, Chrstine Montanti, is working with state lawmakers on similar legislation in New York.

Due to a drafting error, Garcia and Harris’ bills are titled “Karilyn’s Law,” Harris and Contreas told Florida Politics. Harris confirmed her measure is to be renamed after Contreas’ mother.

Harris said in a statement that the goal of her bill is to “alleviate several concerns” her office has heard from parents, grandparents and concerned family members.

“Countless advocates have come to me with personal stories of how this system has failed them,” she said. “I am proud to file this bill to clean up those problems (and codify) into law the practice of doing what’s best for a child, incapacitated person, or elder if they require legal guardianship.”

SB 48 and HB 887, filed Sept. 18 and Dec. 13, respectively, await hearings before the first of three committees to which they were referred.

If passed, the legislation would go into effect July 1.